A CROWDFUNDING campaign has been launched to pay for a memorial sculpture in honour of the life of a Truro aid worker at the entrance to his former primary school.

Chris Parry, 28, from Truro, died in Ukraine in January 2023. He attended Kea Community Primary School, which aims to raise £10,500 to commission a work by contemporary international sculptor Ben Dearnley, who created the memorial at Lappa Valley to the lives lost in the East Wheal Rose mining tragedy of 1846.

The artist’s concept is for a large standing stone of Delabole slate, at the same height as Chris, inset with a heart-shaped aperture filled with a stained-glass window “full of colour, warmth and beauty - some of the same attributes Chris must have held dear to himself as he seemed to live by a deep code of moral care and love for others”.

Headteacher Michael Barritt said the school “would like to focus on the wonderful gifts that Chris bestowed on the world: selflessness, integrity, bravery and a resolute intolerance of injustice”.

He added: “We feel one of the best ways of honouring Chris and supporting his legacy is to ensure that all pupils who come through our school know of his life’s work and his personal connection to Kea CP School. He was, and will remain, one of our own.

“We feel this memorial artwork has the potential to … offer a focal point for the future aspirations, ambitions and values of Kea CP school pupils for many generations, and provide a fitting and permanent legacy of Chris’ life and ultimate sacrifice to those values that he held so dear.”

The school has already moved to cementing Chris’ legacy by naming one of its classes after him. “Each year as part of transition into Parry class, children will have the opportunity to learn about the things that were close to Chris’ heart - not just his life, and end-of-life story, but the things that drove him to do what he did and be where he was,” said Mr Barritt.

Find out more at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/chris-parry-memorial-sculpture-keacpschool.