Last month (June) saw the unveiling in Givenchy-les-La-Bassée, France, of a memorial in Kirkstone Quarries’ Brathay Blue Black and Light Sea Green Cumbrian slate to the Tunnellers of the Royal Engineers of the First World War. The inspiration for the memorial came from the bravery of Tunneller William Hackett from Swansea, who died 12m underground in 1916, aged 22, trying to save an injured colleague. The ‘T’ on the top of the memorial, taken from the ‘T’ on the arms of the tunnellers’ uniforms, sights the position where William Hackett and the man he was trying to save remain buried. The Brathay Blue Black of the frame of the memorial has a combination of flametexturing, bushammering and hand plucking to create the look of the timber used to shore up the tunnels. The central panel is made of two slabs of honed Light Sea Green slate sandwiching the yellow glass ‘T’. The inscriptions, badges and tools of the tunnellers carved on to the memorial relate to the activities of the Tunnellers and the Royal Engineers.