THIS is the first look at a design for a new monument which will stand at a gateway to Weymouth.

The monument, which will be erected at Manor Roundabout where the new relief road meets Dorchester Road, will be dedicated to a forgotten son of the town who a group of people think should be remembered in the modern age.

He is Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, an MP for Weymouth almost 200 years ago and a social reformer who worked for the abolition of the slave trade as well as changes in prisons and the law.

A campaign to highlight his good deeds and push for a permanent memorial has been led by Joyce Fannon of Buckland Ripers who set up the Thomas Fowell Buxton Society, supported by husband John.

Bosses at Weymouth College expressed interest in the project which led to a competition being organised where stonemasonry students were challenged to come up with a design.

Judges selected Peter Loizou’s entry, a classic design consisting of an obelisk on a plinth with a ball on top. The structure will stand at just under four metres (13.12ft) tall.

Sir Thomas’s name and his coat of arms will be on the base.

Mr Loizou, 36, from Bridport, is a second-year student studying for a diploma in stonemasonry.

He helped to create the three large panels installed at the new Tesco superstore on Portland and won an award last year.

Mr Loizou made a model of his design to show the judges once he had been selected.

He said: “My inspiration came from not only the exceptionally worthy cause but also the thought of designing a monument that will be positioned in the gateway to Weymouth and Portland – something for my son to see for evermore.”

The judging panel comprised of Mrs Fannon, Weymouth College principal Sue Moore, local arts development officer Alan Rogers, Mayor of Weymouth and Portland Paul Kimber, Albion Stone’s Tony Porter and Weymouth Civic Society Chairman Mike Martin. Two direct descendants of Sir Thomas, Ben and James Buxton, also had a say.

Mrs Fannon said: “The attention to detail Peter put into the competition was second to none, he even produced a full size model of the finished design.”

Peter will now begin work as the project manager working with Albion Stone and other stonemasonry staff and students at the college to produce the finished monument in time for the Olympics next year.

John Fannon said Peter Loizou’s entry was a ‘fantastic’ design.

He said: “I think the judges went for a classical design because it won’t date, as opposed to something that is avant-garde. I think the other features around it at Manor roundabout area will really set it off.”

l People will have a chance to find out more and see designs of the monument at an open meeting taking place at St Augustine’s Church hall in Dorchester Road, Weymouth, on Wednesday, June 8 at 2pm.

• SIR Thomas Fowell Buxton, whose family built and lived in Belfield House in Weymouth for many years, was considered an important ‘do gooder’ of his time.

Sir Thomas was the successor of William Wilberforce as he took forward the campaign to abolish slavery which was passed by the Government in 1833.

He was also the MP for Weymouth & Melcombe Regis from 1818 until 1837 and his work as an MP also included changes in prison conditions and the abolition of capital punishment.

For more details visit: thomasfowellbuxton.org.uk/society.html