The purpose of the “Lest we forget….” series is to take a moment out of our busy lives to remember those who fell fighting for our country. This series, started by ‘Bearded Zombie’, is exclusive to Opencaching.uk

The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Cenotaph in Brenchley Gardens is a First World War memorial dedicated to members of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment and located in Maidstone.

Unveiled in 1921, the memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens following his design for the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London and is today a Grade II* listed building.

The memorial, was built by local construction firm GE Wallis and Sons. It was unveiled by Major General Sir Edmund Leach, colonel of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment at a ceremony on 30 July 1921. The dedication was performed by Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lieutenant General Sir Edwin Alderson gave an address to the crowds. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the colours of the regiment's territorial battalion (reserves) and service battalion (volunteers who enlisted for the war) were laid up in All Saints Church.

The cenotaph ("empty tomb") is almost identical to that on Whitehall, except that it is reduced to two-thirds scale and is not adorned by flags. Built from Portland stone, it consists of a chest tomb, covered by a moulded laurel wreath, at the top of a three-staged rectangular base.

The base sits on top of the large rectangular shaft, set back slightly towards the top, which itself rests on a two-stage base of rectangular blocks. The whole structure stands on a base of three shallow steps, typical of Lutyens' war memorials. Decorations on the memorial are sparse, consisting solely of a moulded laurel wreath on the two sides, below which are inscribed the dates of the two world wars (inscriptions for the Second World War were added later). The two faces contain the only inscriptions: "THE GLORIOUS DEAD / OF THE QUEEN'S OWN ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT / NUMBERING 6866 OF ALL RANKS / ALSO NUMBERING 1663 OF ALL RANKS".

The memorial was designated a grade II listed building on 2 August 1974. In October 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens' war memorials were recognised as a "national collection" and all of his free-standing memorials in England were listed or had their listing status reviewed and their National Heritage List for England list entries were updated and expanded. As part of this process, the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Cenotaph was upgraded to Grade II* listed building status, as was the Royal Berkshire's memorial in Reading.

In order to claim this virtual cache, you have a number of options to include with your log:

• Post a picture of you or your GPSR with the memorial in the background. You do not need to be directly in front of the memorial to take this picture.

• Post a picture of part of the memorial that you find interesting (for example, a relief or part of a sculpture).

• Pick a name on the memorial, research and share information about the person or their life (after all, this series is all about making sure these people and the lives they lived are not forgotten). Extra kudos & respect for this, but unfortunately no extra points!

It shouldn’t need reminding, but please be respectful while claiming this virtual cache and take a moment to remember those who are named on the memorial.

If you wish to extend this series, please contact the CO, Bearded Zombie.