HELP THE CAMPAIGN
LATEST
The Lancastria Association of Scotland is now organising putting together a detailed “action pack” which will contain pro-forma letters and other ideas on how you can help the objectives of the Association by raising the profile of the sacrifice made on 17th June 1940. More details to follow soon.
There are a number of things you can do to help raise the profile of the Lancastria and the sacrifice made by the victims.
Firstly you can write directly to Tom Watson MP, the Veterans Minister to urge him to reconsider designating Lancastria an official maritime war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act. His address is:
Derek Twigg MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans
Ministry of Defence
Floor 5, Zone B,
Main Building,
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2HB
You may wish to outline your direct connection with the Lancastria. The Government is hinting that there are potential diplomatic problems with designation as the wreck lies in French territorial waters. We know that this is not the case because we have spoken directly with French government officials. The difficulty appears to be entirely on the British side.
If you would like to use a pro-forma letter then this can be supplied by emailing [email protected]
Secondly you can write to Alan Meale MP, Commissioner for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission again urging him to press the British government to designate Lancastria an official war grave. Mr Meale's address is:
Alan Meale MP
Commisioner CWGC
House of Commons
SW1A 0AA
I would also urge you to contact both your local MSP, MEP and MP asking them for support. Contact details can be found in your local phone book.
Lastly one of the main aims of the Association is to gain wider public awareness of the Lancastria. In 2004 Christophe Francois's documentary film won best maritime film of the year in an international film festival in Toulon. The film is a very powerful contribution to gaining wider recognition for the victims and has now been shown in 85 countries worldwide, except the UK.
We have tried a number of times to persuade British broadcasters to produce an English language version but so far without success. There is both a 1-hour version and 30-minute version of the film and I would urge members to write to the following broadcasters to see if they would reconsider co-producing an English language version. We have a full beta master tape available for them to view, with English translation text for the French interviews.
Commissioning chiefs addresses:
Commissioning Producer/Editor
Scottish TV
200 Renfield Street
Glasgow
G2 3PR
Danny Cohen
Head of Documentaries
Channel 4 Television,
124 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 2TX
Richard Klein
Commissioning Editor
Room 3554
BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London
W12 7TS
Andrea Miller
Head of Factual programming Scotland
Room 3169
BBC Scotland
Queen Margaret Drive
Glasgow
G12 8DG
Bridget Boseley
Controller of ITV factual programmes
ITV Network Centre
200 Gray's Inn Road
London
WC1X 8HF
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