Piper Alpha Memorial

Piper Alpha Memorial

This bronze figurative memorial sculpture was completed and unveiled on 6 July 1991, the third anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. It was created by artist Sue Jane Taylor for the Piper Alpha Memorial Fund Committee and commemorates the 167 men killed when the Piper Alpha oil platform was destroyed by explosions and fire on 6 July 1988. The memorial is located at the centre of a formal rose garden in Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen, designed by the city's Director of Parks, David Welch. A casket of unknown ashes is interred within the plinth.

The memorial comprises three cast bronze figures, each 7 feet (2.1 metres) high, standing on a square inscribed plinth of pink Corennie granite, locally quarried at Tillyfourie, Aberdeenshire. The figures represent the offshore workforce of the platform. The central mature figure faces north towards the garden entrance and holds in his left hand a pool of oil sculpted in spiral form, while his right hand points downward to indicate its source. His helmet bears a fish and seabird motif symbolising the environmental aspects of the North Sea oil industry. The figure facing west is a "roustabout" in a dynamic pose that recalls the physical nature of offshore trades, with a tree of life motif on his sleeve embellished in gold leaf to symbolise the exploration and production of crude oil. The figure facing east represents youth and eternal movement, and features a sea-eagle motif on his left sleeve, partly gilt in gold leaf. This references the North American eagle as patron of oil, but substitutes the native sea eagle in its place.

The plinth is 6 feet (1.8 metres) high and square in plan, with polished granite surface. It was designed in collaboration between Sue Jane Taylor and John Fyfe Granite Ltd. The plinth is inscribed on all four faces with gilt lettering. The north face reads: "Dedicated to the memory of the one hundred and sixty seven men who lost their lives in the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster 6th July 1988". The names and ages of the victims are inscribed in alphabetical order on the east, west and south faces. The names of the thirty men whose bodies were never recovered are inscribed in the centre of the south face, above a rectangular slab of granite bearing a gilt Celtic cross, beneath which the casket of unknown ashes is interred. The names of the two crewmen from the MV Sandhaven rescue vessel are inscribed separately on the east face.

The Piper Alpha oil platform explosion of 6 July 1988 resulted in 167 deaths, including two rescue crewmen. Only 61 people survived. In the months following the disaster, the Piper Alpha Memorial Fund Committee and the Families and Survivors Group consulted with affected families regarding a suitable location and design for a public memorial. The site chosen was Hazlehead Park, where a new formal rose garden was already under construction at the time of the disaster. In April 1989, Aberdeen Council announced that this garden would be dedicated to the victims.

Sue Jane Taylor, born in 1960, was selected to create the memorial sculpture. In January 1990, she moved to the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden to produce preparatory drawings (exhibited in September 1990) and scaled models. A survivor of the Piper Alpha disaster, Bill Barron, advised on costume detailing and modelled for the mature central figure. The other two models were a visiting sculptor at the workshop and a recent arts graduate.

The memorial cost £100,000, which was raised through a sustained campaign by bereaved women from the Memorial Committee between 1989 and 1990. Contributions from the offshore industries proved lower than anticipated, creating uncertainty about the project's viability. The target was reached through public donations, including contributions from Piper families themselves, and a £40,000 government grant. Combined oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea contributed a total of £14,000.

Sue Jane Taylor completed her plaster figures by early spring 1991. Bronze casting took place at the Burleighfield Foundry in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire from March to June 1991. Gold leaf was applied by Pam Bramley, a visiting Australian artist to the Scottish Sculpture Workshop. The granite for the plinth was donated by John Fyfe Granite Ltd, who also collaborated on the plinth design. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, unveiled the completed memorial to a crowd exceeding 1000 people. The casket of ashes was interred within the plinth in a private ceremony for survivors and the bereaved the evening before the public unveiling.

The memorial garden continues to host annual anniversary services each summer, at which the names of all 167 victims are read, a minute's silence is observed, and wreaths and flowers are laid. In 2020, all engraving on the plinth was regilded.