Funding boost for Clifford Chambers War Memorial

CLIFFORD Chambers War Memorial has received a £2,050 funding boost from the War Memorial Trust Grant Scheme.

This takes the total monies to 75 per cent of the required figure to enable the War Memorial to be cleaned and the names re-cut.

In addition, an auction of promises held at Clifford Chambers Village Hall on Saturday night raised in excess of £8,000 which means that work on the memorial can begin and replacement and repair of the Victorian guttering around St Helen’s Church can start.

Frances Moreton, director, War Memorial Trust said: “War memorials are a tangible connection to our shared past creating a link between the fallen and today. It is vital we ensure all our war memorials are in the best possible condition for their age and the charity is delighted to support this project.

“The centenary of the First World War is a wonderful opportunity for local communities across the country to protect and conserve their war memorials. If anyone knows of any other war memorials in need of help please contact us.”

The war memorial, sitting on two three-sided steps, is owned by St Helen’s Church and is set into an angle of the churchyard wall.

Part of St Helen’s Remembrance Sunday service is taken at the war memorial which most of the villagers attend. Most years a member of the community will play the Last Post and Reveille on the bugle.

The memorial is dedicated to 12 men that died in the First World War and four in the Second World War.

Village children lay poppies for each of the men and this year additional poppies will be laid in remembrance of the two RAF Service men who are buried in St Helen’s Churchyard – they are commemorated at the Air Forces Memorial in Runneymede.

The majority of the village, including The Salmon, Mole, and Lively families, are keen to see the memorial cleaned and the names re-recut as it is becoming increasingly more difficult to read them.