IT’S looking increasingly likely that a monument to one of the region’s greatest war heroes will become a reality.

Planning permission for a memorial to Stan Hollis, the only man to win a Victoria Cross on D-Day, is being recommended for approval when it goes before Middlesbrough Borough Council tomorrow (Friday, November 8).

Now the man behind the campaign, Brian Bage, 78, of Guisborough, has released more details about what the monument at the Dorman Museum, Middlesbrough would look like and how it will be funded.

About £11,000 has already been raised, largely from donations from individuals, but £120,000 has been promised by Impetus Environmental Trust.

However, the campaign team still needs to raise tens of thousands of pounds and the promised charity money will not be available until other cash is in the bank.

It is not possible to say exactly how much it will cost until until tax issues have been dealt with and tenders from various companies have been processed - but it will be over £150,000.

The design itself, which features a statue of Stan Hollis, has been finished by Middlesbrough Borough Council, based on ideas from Mr Bage and his fellow campaigners. Council designers worked for free.

The monument will include slabs containing details of 17 other Victoria Cross winners from the Green Howard regiment.

Mr Bage explained it may not be possible to raise the funding for the bronze statue, which would cost about £40,000, within the next year.

However it was hoped the base, containing information about Stan Hollis, could be erected by the anniversary of D-Day next year, on June 6.

“There’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people, but it’s coming together, although there’s a long way to go,” said Mr Bage. “We really want people to raise money and send it in.”

Middlesbrough-born Stan Hollis, a Company Sergeant, served at Dunkirk, North Africa and Sicily before being part of the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

He was nominated for a VC twice for two separate actions on the same day. Hollis, a father-of-two, stormed two pill boxes single handed and later risked his own life to save two of his men. He went on to become a pub landlord before dying in 1972, aged 59.

Stan Hollis’s children, Brian and Pauline, have backed the project.

* Visit stanleyehollisvcmemorial.co.uk or send cheques to Brian via Church Street, Guisborough, postcode TS14 6BX.