The Yomper statue, so beautifully crafted by Philip Jackson, is a much loved feature of our Eastney seafront and significantly well placed outside our old Marine Barracks.

He has become much more than a marker for the Royal Marines Museum and is now considered as our local Falklands War Memorial.

The imposing scale of The Yomper needs space and adequate distance to be fully appreciated, and the visualization of the part in the major campaign that the statue represents couldn't be achieved in an interior space.

We understand that you are still undecided about the fate of the statue. We would be delighted if you were able to commission a new artwork for the new museum and allow "The Yomper" to remain where, we believe, he belongs.