A FUNDRAISING campaign towards the installation of a poignant statue to mark Harwich's role in the Kindertransport rescue has been launched.

Plans are in the pipeline to create a bronze statue which would commemorate the child refugees who escaped Adolph Hitler’s reign of terror in parts of Europe ahead of the Second World War.

In total, the huge humanitarian rescue mission saw about 10,000 children travel from Nazi occupied Europe to the safety of Britain to save them from the Holocaust.

Hundreds of the children, most of whom were Jewish, arrived in Harwich on December 2, 1938.

To remember the town's efforts in the rescue The Harwich Kindertransport Memorial and Learning Trust is working to create a memorial statue and education programme.

However, the group needs help in raising £100,000 to make the project come to fruition.

So far planning permission has been granted for the statue to be displayed at Harwich Quay.

Graham John Crame, an executive member of the Harwich Society, launched the fundraising website on Saturday, December 12.

He is hoping the public can help raise £5,000 towards the project.

A statement on his Crowdfunding page said: "Harwich played a crucial role in caring for these children, however there are few reminders in the town, except for two plaques and an exhibition in our Napoleonic Fort.

"The port of Harwich was the main entry point for most of the children who came to Britain.

"Many hundreds of them spent their first weeks at Dovercourt Holiday Camp, just two miles from the town, no longer in existence.

"A memorial statue would provide a powerful focal point on the quay for visitors to Harwich and local townspeople wishing to commemorate the Kindertransport."

As part of the project, the group wants to create a Kindertransport town trail, information boards around Harwich and Dovercourt, an audio bench for quiet reflection and an educational programme for children.

To donate to the Crowdfunding page visit, justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kindertransportstatue.

To find out more, donate, or visit the project's website, go to kindertransport-memorial.org.