This event was organised by Elizabeth Blood who is the War Memorials Project Officer at Leicestershire County Council. Senior figures from the County attended and so did several WFA members. A twenty year project was brought to fruition by one of our members Michael Doyle. A six volume work begun by his father 20 years ago details 13,707 Great War fatalities from the two counties of Leicestershire and rutland.
Access to this remarkable archive is via the website. Elizabeth demonstrated the value of community-based research to the appreciation of war memorial heritage and local casualties.
To its credit Leicestershire CC is building a register of war memorials and to date records over 1,700 - ranging from the 15th Century to the present day - on the website. They work actively with schools and clearly pupils have an excellent tool to help in their studies.
In my presentation I outlined the activities of the WFA and clearly there are areas of overlapping interest between our organisations. I included two poems which always move me and one of our members Mrs Angela Berry helped in their delivery.
Nancy Treves from the War Memorials Trust gave a presentation on the charity that works to protect and conserve war memorials in the UK. It is distressing that memorials have not been accurately recorded in many cases and, if they disappear for any number of reasons, then the information they contained has been lost forever. Many memorials are now protected by 'Smart Water' and this should be encouraged.
Roger Hailwood gave an informative talk on the National Memorial Arboretum, from its early days to the important role it now plays in UK remembrance. Roger highlighted Leicester links to the National Memorial.
Denis Kenyon and Chris Stephens talked about 'Orphan' memorials. This is something that is obviously a national problem. Memorials are simply lost, stolen or vandalised and they are attempting to find a suitable sanctuary to display at risk items. Neighbourhoods change, churches and factories are closed and so often memorials that represent so much can be lost. It seems that Leicestershire may have a solution but our members should be alert to their local situations and encourage their councils to find appropriate new homes when relocation becomes inevitable.
This event was also a great opportunity to demonstrate the best of Great War Remembrance and I thank all those who helped make the evening such a success.
Tim Chamberlin
Chairman
WFA East Midlands
Link to the slideshow of photographs provided on Flickt by Leicestershire CC.
