The Appeal launched in April 2013 for funds to conserve the only memorial in Cumbria to the Titanic Chief Engineer Joseph Bell, in Farlam, have enabled the conservation work to be undertaken, with a commemoration service celebrating this to be held at the gravestone memorial, on Saturday the 26th of April, at 2.00 pm, to which all are welcome.
The re-lettered memorial stone is cleaned and sealed for future generations. Access to the location of the memorial in the Old Graveyard at St Thomas a Becket Church is now signposted, with attached acrylic ‘QR’ code for information about Joseph Bell, a new stone plaque at the entrance to the Old Graveyard, and a new access footpath has been established for visitors. It is hoped to add in the future an additional information point for visitors.
The Appeal organisers Ann Freer & Barrie Hodgson thank all donors for their collective contributions that have enabled the work to be undertaken, in honouring a Cumbrian hero who, 102 years ago on the 15th of April 1912, died along with his brave fellow Engineers aboard R.M.S. Titanic. The following is engraved on his memorial:
“NO GREATER LOVE HATH MAN THAN THIS. THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS”
Joseph Bell, Chief Engineer on the R.M.S. Titanic 