The memorial to Harold Lowe will be unveiled on Sunday, and I’m getting quite nervous. I don’t know why – it’s not as if I even have to do anything, I’m just going to stand there and watch them unveil it – but it’s like, this is the product of almost two years of campaigning and work on and off, and it’s taken off in a way I never could have imagined. When I started it, I hoped that a letter to the newspaper and a facebook group might warrant, at best, a letter from the council saying they’d erect a memorial, which was all I really wanted – that’s the whole reason why I started the campaign. It was hard at times, especially when people used to ask me why I wasn’t campaigning for something “a little more worthwhile” (kind of ignoring the fact that I’ve been too busy with this for two years but once it’s done I’m going to work on fundraising for charities that are close to my heart if I can squish it in around university and stuff), but I stuck with it because I think that it is a worthwhile cause – it will be worth it for his family, who have waited for generations to see him remembered, and for people who will go to Barmouth and learn about him.
But back to the reason why I’m nervous. It seems to have grown into a big thing – people are travelling a fair distance to come and see it unveiled, including members of his family, and there’s going to be a samba band, the air cadets doing a guard, the lifeboat crew and a choir there. There’s nothing really for me to be nervous about – I know what I’m wearing, how I’m going to have my hair and everything, so there’s nothing about me that I’m worried about – I just really hope it goes well! I want the weather to be great, I want people to be there, I want people to be happy that it’s there and I want it to be something that Barmouth can be proud of.
the life of a moomin 