Park’s Plinth Secured

Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park will grace the fourth plinth for six months in London’s Trafalgar Square, after the Westminster City Council agreed to erecting a statue of the Battle of Britain commander. The statue will then be moved to a permanent position in Waterloo Place. London financier Terry Smith, who campaigned for the statue, told Radio New Zealand: “Couldn’t be more delighted frankly, it was against all odds that we would get it,” Smith said. The plinth is reserved for an equestrian statue of the Queen on her favourite horse Burmese. Sir Keith Park was born in Thames in 1892. Promoted to Air Chief Marshal on 20 December 1946, Park returned to New Zealand, where he took up a number of civic roles and was elected to the Auckland City Council. He lived in New Zealand until his death on 6 February 1975, aged 82.