History of the creation of the Torbay Blue Plaque by Torbay Civil Society Association President Ian Handford – this week, Torquay Vanishing Point:
In 2015, the Torbay Citizens’ Association, in partnership with Torquay’s Normandy Veterans Association, jointly decided to celebrate French Landing Day 1944 twice by installing a granite stone on the lighthouse pier to help the public better understand the gate light, electric rings, and all Morse code graphics.
The so-called public work of art was designed and installed by Bob Bard of Exeter and includes three elements – a cross, a ring and a Morse code message.
Despite being known as the Vanishing Point Memorial, few seem to understand the need for them to stand near a glowing cross so your imagination can imagine the US 4th Infantry Regiment taking to the sea to the beaches of Normandy in June 1944.
21,000 men were stationed in and around Devon before they went on a secret mission that eventually landed on Utah Beach as part of the Allied advance into Europe and even Germany.
The cross and ring are supported by a third element consisting of Morse code markers set on the boardwalk.
They can be deciphered using our list of national Morse codes on the side of the main stainless steel memorial plaque on the stone.
In deciding to build this memorial, we used a mason working with then Torbay Harbor Captain Kevin Mowat and the Normandy veterans to carve the stone in place of the blue plaque.
The memorial was built to make it easier for passers-by to understand the conceptual thinking behind this public work of art.
While erecting a permanent monument on the embankment, we realized the need to place stones on a stone pier.
Therefore, the commission’s contractor had to create a suitable channel in the deck so that large pieces of granite could be firmly anchored in the concrete on the surface of the pier.
This included several visits/discussions with JC Stonemasons of Decoy Quarry, Newton Abbot before finally all partners agreed that DJC Ltd could proceed with commissioning.
The company now offers and carved two squares in stone to take two tablets – a list of messages and Morse code.
The opening is scheduled for June 6, the 71st anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, where veterans’ parades take place every year.
Community members and others joined us at the Royal Yacht Club on Beacon Terrace at 9:30am and we enjoyed complimentary coffee/tea to greet the Normandy veterans before we all made our way down the Terrace to join the huge crowd. memorial on the embankment of the lighthouse.
After a short service, we saw Torbay City Council Mayor Gordon Oliver and the US Ambassador officially unveil our commemorative plaque and Morse code list.
Just four years later, in 2021, a member of the public emailed us that the largest plaque on its granite base was missing, presumably stolen.
Less than an hour later I went and searched on the pier and found nothing. Requests for information led us eventually to conclude that a guard had spotted our plate on a nightly patrol of the dock and was keeping it, assuming it was the property of the Port Authority.
We eventually learned that seawater destroys most adhesives when bonding steel to stone. The nightmare is over, as they say, it could have been more, but there is enough coverage here, and the record has safely returned to its place for your review.
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The former cinema of Torquay is given new life and returns to its historical roots. There are fears that the old Central Theater on Abbey Road will be ripe for demolition and rebuilding when it closes. But at the Unleashed Theater Company and the newly named