Antarctic Sledge Dog Memorial Fund

The model was absolutely excellent and much more realistic than can possibly be shown with 2D photographs. Indeed it was difficult to describe anything other than small corrections which will be acted upon over the next few weeks.

Graham and Hwfa have already noted that:

	The bridge of the nose needs to be fraction wider
	The tail needs to be slightly less substantial - i.e. more detailing will resolve this
	The harness needs to be a little wider at the withers.

The sculpture is representative of all the British Antarctic huskies so the facial expression will never exactly match any one dog and deliberately so.

Of interest you may like to look at the astonishingly high standard of work done by David who concentrates on the sculpture and Sebastian who makes the mouldings, on their website

Over the next few weeks we shall be looking at the drawings and form of the plaque by sculptor Denise Coch, which will include the names of all the dog teams and a simple inscription.

Unveiling will be in June or July 2009 in Cambridge

The fund is in good heart and the final amount payable for the works is now guaranteed, so the works can proceed swiftly to the unveiling in 2009 as in the initial timetable.

Update November 2007

It's just about a year now since a few FIDS got together and decided to do something to record the contribution of British Sledge Dogs to the British Antarctic Survey.

With a minimum of fuss a small team got together. Graham Wright would act as Treasurer; Hwfa Jones would do the secretarial work. Richard Harbour kindly offered to liaise with the BAS Club.

Publicity was freely given by Andy Smith of Z FIDS, Paul Ward of 'Cool Antarctica' and Sue Hamilton of 'The Fan Hitch'. Brigid Wainwright & Keith Holmes provided information & research, plus many others too numerous to name who contacted us with information and help.

We had in fact an ad hoc committee of hundreds of FIDS and friends. The Treasurer Graham Wright has informed me that:

The Fund now stands at over £3000

The growth of the fund to the target of £6,000 and the casting of a full size dog is now certain. We expect to commission the bronze sculpture of a typical British Antarctic Husky early in the New Year 2008 together with a plaque naming all the British Antarctic Dog Teams.

We are currently looking at locations in Antarctica to site the memorial and were delighted to accept Chris Rapley's offer kind offer of transportation south when the time comes.

As I write this two sculptors are making final adjustments to their drawings and models to take account of the comments from all the FIDS who have made suggestions to improve the early sketches. The sculptors have in addition looked at hundreds of photographs of dogs to make the bronze as typical as we can remember. It is likely that one of the sculptors will cast the dog and the other the memorial plaque

'The Doggy Men' book ; written to 'kick-start' the Fund continues to sell albeit slowly now, so we have commissioned Mike Skidmore to paint a very detailed and historically accurate scene of a typical BAS dog team pulling a loaded sledge in Antarctica. (Called: - 'British Antarctic Survey Dog Team Sledging on Sea Ice')  The Painting is meticulously accurate and a unique record of dog sledging in British Antarctic Territory. A limited number of beautiful Art Prints have been made of this scene at £15 including postage, proceeds to the Fund.

Hwfa Jones, 47 Penkett Road, Wallasey, Merseyside CH45 7QG
Tel: 0151 201 0249  Email: Hwfa@merseymail.com

For Sale - "Sledging on Sea Ice" -  fine art print

£15, postage free - From Hwfa Jones:

Hwfa Jones, 47 Penkett Road . Wallasey, Merseyside CH45 7QG
Tel: 0151 201 0249 Email: Hwfa.jones@googlemail.com

 - or Mike Skidmore's web pages www.antarctic-paintings.com

For Sale - "The Doggy Men" - book

Written to help contribute some initial funding for the memorial and can be bought for £5 (minimum) +£1 postage (£1 per book UK, £2.50 outside of the UK, or the actual postage cost if you require more than 1 copy - email Graham or estimate this and send enough to cover postage) Cheques should be to "The Sledge Dog Memorial Fund":

Graham Wright, Treasurer, Antarctic Sledge Dog Memorial Fund
39 Bryn Meadows. Newtown. Powys SY16 2DS. Tel: 01686 624077
(wk.1686611206) Email: gwright@mid-wales.net

The book is also on eBay

Provisional List of Dog Teams, BAT, 1944 onwards
 - K.D. Holmes 2 January 2007

Admirals Amazons Beatles Brigantes Celts Churchmen Citizens Counties Debs Drinks

Follies Huns Gaels Gangsters (Julian’s team) Giants Girls Gods Goobers Goons Guards

Hairybreeks Heroes Hobbits Huns Komats Ladies Mobsters Moomins Number Ones (Julian’s team) Odds and Ends

Picts Players Smokos Spartans Terrors Trads Trogs Vikings

Antarctic Sledge Dog Memorial Fund, launch - Hwfa Jones - October 2006

From a recent article in the Telegraph saluting Wally Herbert as the first to the North Pole it is evident that the public has almost completely forgotten that the true 'first to the Poles' were not those now listed in the history books but the sledge dogs that dragged the loads and our heroes to glory. To the South, neither Amundsen nor Scott (who used dogs to lay so many of his depots) would have reached the South Pole without them.

In the early days these magnificent animals were often treated abominably. They were beaten, starved, slaughtered and even eaten. As late as 1973 hundreds of dogs were ordered to be shot in Antarctica for 'environmental reasons' by tearful dog drivers. Coincidentally the new world of exploration by aircraft and snowmobiles was being embraced at that time.

British sledge drivers treated their dogs well and had a great affection for them tinged with some guilt.

At the recent 'Z Fids' Reunion I was touched by the stories so many Fids told me of their experiences with their dogs and many had felt guilty of being harsh with them, perhaps not relating this to the great stress they were under in sometimes 'life threatening' situations. Certainly there was to my knowledge never a case of any Fid refusing to travel and yet the danger of crevasses / sea ice/ blizzards / exposure was very real and in many cases initially an absolute shock to many young men who had never seen even a glacier before. Others were adamant that the mass shootings in 1973 (over 100 dogs and pups) at Stonington (and sometimes even to dogs in the field by their drivers at the end of long field trips) was a disgrace that had long been 'kept quiet'

Virtually all of British Antarctic Territory was surveyed and mapped by scientists working as teams with dogs which are now banned from the continent forever.

The Antarctic Sledge Dog Memorial Fund has been set up by men of the British Antarctic Survey (The Fids) to mark the outstanding contribution of our polar dogs to exploration. More than 100 people have contributed so far. From comments at the recent reunion the most popular option is likely to be a Bronze statue, of a typical strong shouldered 'British Husky'. The cost from one sculptor at Lakeland Creations is estimated at £3,500 to £5,000. We should perhaps have a target of £6000 and there could even be a competition for the design.

	General: There should just be one single memorial to all the British Dogs Drawings / model should be approved as suitable before manufacture by a representative group of Fids. We should aim to get this done and the memorial placed within 2 years
	Funding: Graham Wright (BAS 1969 - 74) has opened a bank account in the name of 'The Antarctic Sledge Dog Memorial Fund'. The account has been opened with more than £500 from sales of "The Doggy Men" The book is a contribution to starting a Memorial fund. I printed 1000 and all the sales money goes to the memorial till (together with any donations) we get enough to go ahead. After that (If there are any books left) it'll be on sale for me to recover the printing costs.
	Type of memorial: Bronze Dog with inscription (All the dog teams?) Bronze Plaque - (All the dogs and teams listed?)
	Location: Port Lockroy is the favoured location looking S.E. across the Continent where our sledge dogs operated. Port Lockroy is accessible to almost everyone who visits Antarctica. Actually a great tourist attraction and most Fids going South would be likely to drop in at Port Lockroy at some time and be able to see the memorial.
	Getting it there: I guess it would be nice to have the dog on display in the UK then see it sail down, visiting the bases before being set at the chosen location by Fids down there. Chris has got the ships! I guess this would result in quite a lot of publicity so all the Fids would get to hear about it.

This memorial is important to so many individual 'Fids'. As a country it's about time we joined so many other nations in Antarctica in remembering the contribution of our sledge dogs.