Updated: 16 October 2005

Just letting all you good people know that our now famous group, Astral Piper - THE NEW SYD BARRETT APPRECIATION SOCIETY, recently sent an e-mail into Cambridge City Council to get things underway for a massive project set to position a new Syd Barrett Tribute Monument of sorts within Cambridgeshire Parklands. We received an e-mail back from the Council, saying the project has been submitted to planning within the Cambridge City Council Chambers, and that they will be in contact soon regarding the project. Very exciting for us all folks. I am also currently making every effort to contact Syd's family regarding the project, to get their approval. We are confident they will be fine with it, because it will give fans somewhere to visit in Cambridge, instead of bothering him at his home. I should point out also, that here within Astral Piper, we actively discourage fans from visiting Syd, and anybody who does so will be frowned upon.

I will reguarly add to this page to update you all along the way of our exciting venture.

I have some rough plans for the Monument below, but welcome any interest, or Design ideas which any of you may have that could contribute to something rather special and timeless for Mr. Barrett.

I already have three good people who are Members of Astral Piper living in the Cambridgeshire area. I will approach this project through all the correct channels in order to get this project off the ground and hopefully make it a success. As with all projects like this, they are expensive, so we need to raise funds to tackle one of the Design ideas to immortalise Syd in the form of a sculpture, set to be enshrined onto a piece of Cambridge land somewhere, still to be secured and decided. 

I have started the ball rolling with getting some T-shirts printed at my own cost. I'm hoping as time ticks by, and we get more and more new members in our Astral Piper Society, that members will buy a T-Shirt to get involved with this. I will be using the profits to fund this new project, so it will be money well spent! And remember members, visiting this New Tribute Monument in Cambridge one day, we can all gaze upon it one by one and think, we all contributed towards that. It truly will be a timeless project for future generations to wonder upon.

Tribute CD - I have also received a few tribute songs from members in the USA and another in the UK, written about Syd. I thought if we got enough of you talented musicians out there to write a Syd Barrett tribute song, we could compile a 14 track CD, to sell for fund-raising on the project also. So send them in folks. Contact me if you have a song to contribute. This is a call to musicians who have shown a clear interest in Syd Barrett over the years, such as Robyn Hitchcock, Graham Coxon and/or perhaps Michael Stipe from REM to perhaps contact me if they are interested in recording a new track for the CD. Tribute songs I guess are preferred over cover versions. Also any other ideas are always welcome.

 I will refer to this Project as a The Syd Barrett Tribute Monument from now on, as one member seriously questioned the name of a memorial being more a name for something reserved for the dead, and Syd is far from that! To be totally accurate the dictionary defines the word memorial as: Serving to preserve memory; of or involving memory; something serving as a remembrance. But just to keep everyone happy, we will now refer to it as a Tribute Monument.

Below are a couple of rough Design ideas I have drafted for the Tribute Monument.They are by no means the final design, but offer a bit of an idea of what we can achieve. Obviously cost is a huge factor, and depending on how much we raise, will decide on the final design. I envisage this project taking at least 18 months, possibly longer, so we are here for the long haul all you good people, and hopefully we can all get this happening.

I welcome any input, so please e-mail me at: (mail address deleted)

Here are two of my early Design Ideas for the Sculpture...

(ABOVE) This is clearly the most expensive of my design ideas. It would stand 12 feet tall, be made of 4 curved metal legs, joined to a large metal disc, containing a smaller metal cut-template of Syd's face. So when we visit it and look up we see the sunlight streaming in though Syd's image. We would attach a small Brass plaque with a few words or quotes, and a mention of our new Appreciation Society. Some symbols having significance to Syd's music could be cut into the metal also. We need to sell a lot of T-Shirts for this big baby.

(ABOVE) Clearly if we get 18 months into the project, and have gained permission from Cambridge Officials to erect a Memorial, but have limited funds, then maybe we can opt for a smaller less expensive design, like the one shown. It could perhaps be made from coloured metal discs (featuring Syd's famous turquoise and orange floorboard colours), with a smaller disc containing an image of Syd, with relevant text stamped into the metal for the memorial.

T-Shirts are NOW on sale. They are available in a variety of sizes, plus two different designs. One for the Syd appreciative ladies, and one for the gentlemen. I will keep you up to date with how the funds are going every few weeks. See the shirt designs and details of how to purchase and help this great project below...

These T-shirts are now available in a MENS and LADIES style in loads of different sizes on Ebay. Simply type in the words ASTRAL PIPER to your search on www.ebay.com

Please please please, check your exact size and let me know upon payment.

Or you can also buy direct from the PAYPAL (and check exact sizes in centimetres) on the link found on this dedicated Astral T-shirt page:

http://www.sydbarrett.org/tshirt.htm

Any other fund-raising ideas, designs for the sculpture, input for this exciting project or enquiries, please e-mail me at (mail address deleted)

(This is the 'latest' version of the Syd memorial page, an earlier version can be found here: Syd Memorial