Remembering those who have passed away

Our University was built on a vision that our people, and our work, could change the world for the better. Essex would be freer and more daring than the rest. This founding ideology remains at the heart of everything that we do. The University is a vibrant high achieving place today because of those who came before us and believed in ‘A new kind of university...’.

To commemorate members of our community who have passed away we have historically planted trees, alongside flying our University flag at half-mast, and there are some 120 commemorative trees on our Colchester Campus.

Now, we are exploring a more permanent way to remember our colleagues, students and friends with a specially designed memorial.

The memorial and commemoration project will create a permanent, centralised and accessible place for commemorations to take place for those who have passed away, and one which will be fit for purpose for the coming decades.

Based at our Colchester Campus, adjacent to the Silberrad Student Centre, there will be a central memorial feature within a small, landscaped space with sympathetic planting and some seating. The Silberrad Student Centre has been chosen for its central location, accessibility and for being peaceful but not secluded.

The main feature of the memorial will follow the form of a tree with many leaves or blossoms, each of which will be an individual commemoration. We have developed a number of options for the memorial and we’d like to get your feedback before we progress to a final design.

Please take a look at the three proposals and email me with your feedback by Friday 29 October.

Once the memorial has been built, the Estate Management Section will be accepting requests for commemorations to be added for students or staff who have passed away. We will let you all know the process for requesting commemorations as soon as they are finalised.