A memorial has been opened at London's Natural History Museum as a tribute to the 155 British people who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsumani.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall attended the opening of the memorial on Wednesday, 6th July, which is a huge 115 tonne block of granite cut from a quarry in France.
On the floor underneath the granite monolith the names of the British victims are engraved, including Jennifer Solomons from Alderley Edge.
Jenny Solomons, 46, was on holiday with her husband Alan, sons Ben and Richard, and close friends Nick, Mandy, Jack, Dan and Lilly Parr when the tsunami hit on 26th December 2004. They had been visiting Nick's brother who lived in Bangkok and were staying at the Magic Lagoon Hotel in Khao Lak, 50 miles north of Phuket.
Having been there for 10 days the group had settled into a holiday routine of having breakfast in the restaurant on the beach front. On the day the tsunami struck Nick and Mandy had gone back to their bedroom with the younger children to prepare for tennis whilst Alan and Jenny finished breakfast with the older boys Ben and Jack. Jenny then left to walk back to her room through the vast gardens.
Mandy Parr explained "As the water engulfed the resort Alan and the boys were extremely lucky to survive and as extreme chaos ensued, it was much later in the evening, when everyone had regrouped, that we realised Jenny was not there."
Alan, accompanied by Nick and Mandy, attended the dedication service on Wednesday, along with 300 family and friends of the victims. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall spoke to many of the relatives at the Natural History Museum where Prince Charles laid a wreath and observed a minutes silence.
Speaking after the service, Mandy told me "Jenny will always be remembered with the other 154 victims and it is fitting that the memorial is at the Natural History Museum as it provides a human aspect to natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes. It is a very humbling experience as nothing can withstand the forces of nature."
On 26th December 2004 more than 225,000 people lost their lives in one of the world's worst natural disasters.
