A FRESH attempt was made yesterday to raise funds for a memorial to

the men who died in the Piper Alpha diaster.

Friends and relatives of the victims of the world's worst oil disaster

fear they may have to change plans for a bronze and granite memorial

unless they have half of the #100,000 needed by the end of this month.

So far almost #30,000 has been raised towards the cost of casting

three life-size bronze statues of oil workers, which will stand on top

of a granite base.

Miss Lynn Christie, of Aberdeen, a member of the Piper Alpha Memorial

Fund committee, said yesterday: ''We are struggling at the moment. The

committee set a deadline for the end of November to raise half the

funds, and we are still way short.''

The fund-raisers feel they can give the go-ahead for the sculptures to

be cast, even if only half of the money is available.

''We would feel a lot happier if we had raised half the cash before

December, as we could then go ahead with signing contracts for the

work,'' said Miss Christie.

''We don't want to go and change things but, the longer the delay, the

more expensive the work is going to be.''

The bulk of the money raised has come from victims' relatives,

survivors of the tragedy, and the 28 firms which had employees on the

platform. One of the firms is supplying the granite plinth, which will

bear the names of the dead.