Wren sculpture for torpedo victims

Peter Benson, 73, works on a carving of a wren, to be unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire, on May 15, in memory of 21 members of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and a nursing sister who died when the SS Aguila was sunk by a torpedo in 1941.

The wren, carved by members of the Essex Carving Team under the guidance of Mr Benson, of the Essex Woodcarving School in Billericay, stands three feet high and is carved in laminated Brazillian cedar. It has taken the team of five carvers, approximately 35 days, one day a week, to complete the wren which will then be mounted on a granite plinth in the WRNS garden at the Arboretum.