Come to the next meeting - April

The EUXTON WAR MEMORIAL GROUP will be holding its next meeting on Wednesday, 26 April 2011 at 7pm in Euxton PC Community Centre - please come along.

Agenda for the 26 April meeting

March Meeting

The EUXTON WAR MEMORIAL GROUP will be holding its next meeting on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 at Euxton PC Community Centre - please come along.

February meeting

The meeting on the 21 February was very well attended and the EUXTON WAR MEMORIAL GROUP was officially formed with a constitution, executive committee and members.

The next meeting is scheduled for the 23 March and the agenda is attached on the right for you to view or print.

January meeting

The meeting went well on Tuesday, 11 January. A further £280 funds were donated to the project and a pledge for £200 was promised. The funds so far amount to £580.

At the meeting the attendees learned of the project ideas to fund raise and the plan to get together a constituted group to progress the work and research needed to realise a Memorial for Euxton.

A further meeting will be arranged for February this will be an Annual General Meeting of the Euxton Memorial Group and attendees will vote on a Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary and Committee Members for the Group and the Group will sign up to a constitution and for a bank account.

Full meeting report here

Agenda

Annual General Meeting of the Euxton Memorial Group

Monday, 21 February 2011 at 7pm to be held again at Euxton PC Community Centre, in the Annexe building to the rear, off School Lane, Euxton.

Where will David be Remembered?

On February the 8th whilst at work I received what I perceive to be the most awful phone call I have ever had the misfortune to take. It was from a very distraught sister in law and she called to tell me that my very close nephew, her son, had been killed in action in Afghanistan whilst searching for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) his name, Warrant Officer 2nd Class David Markland. Some of you probably remember him as a school friend.

At a time like this, and after the initial shock, many memories and thoughts go through your mind and for me, one of those thoughts were, "where will he be remembered" as Euxton has no village memorial and he is not eligible to be named on Chorley's memorial? I also believe that on publication of David's death a day or so later the same question was asked by Lyndsay Hoyle MP.

Later during a conversation I was having with David's cousin, Stephen Berry, it was obvious that he was having similar thoughts, so we put our heads together and decided we would approach the Parish Council, which we did, and I have to say from my part we got a much better than expected reception to our suggestion of a village memorial, in that it was not immediately dismissed as I expected, we received some verbal support from some of the Councillors, and without making any firm promises a further meeting to discuss the matter in greater detail was arranged.

It was then that we decided to check on the detail included in the only village War Memorial that, at the time, I was aware of and from the conversations I'd had with a number of residents many of whom have lived in the village a lot longer than I, it was clear that I was not the only one with no knowledge of what I was about to discover.
Euxton actually has four registered British War Memorials within the village boundaries of various forms and detailed below:

1. The Euxton War Memorial Club, (The Insty) no names of War Dead
2. St Mary's Catholic Church, a Crucifix with names, 9 from WW1 & 7 from WW2
3. The Euxton Methodist Church, 4 Names on a Vase from WW1
4. The Lych Gate Memorial, no names of War Dead

Four war memorials. Three of them dedicated to their own parishioners, two of them dedicated to nameless people, but not one that can be visited without the restrictions of licensing laws or church agendas. Does any mother, wife, sister, aunt of any previous or future casualty, want to sit on a church front door step when they choose to remember their loved ones or listen to someone playing snooker or a gaming machine.

In total these four memorials represent 20 named war dead, 13 from WW1 and 7 from WW2, I doubted the accuracy of this total as only two of the 4 memorials actually named names, so I contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and researched the Chorley Guardian archives and to date I have 38 names of sons and daughters with connections to Euxton who have made the ultimate sacrifice in WW1 and WW2 for their country's freedom and security, I have been advised that I have not even scratched the surface so much research is still to be done in confirming details of those names we have and those that we may yet have to find, this research has already confirmed for me that "Euxton as a village has forgotten those who gave their tomorrow for our today". Details of the names already collated are available on the Euxton website, many of the names listed are still known in Euxton. As yet no other conflict since WW2 has been researched.

Confirmation of the details supplied by the CWGC required a visit to Euxton's cemeteries, where I became aware that we have a number of war dead actually buried and some that are remembered in one or the other from both WW1 and WW2 that are not named on memorials. Some of them are still attended to; by I can only presume to be family members. Are you one of those relatives? Would you support us in this cause to give your relative the honour and respect from this village they so rightly deserve.

At a second meeting with the Parish Council, members of the Chorley Pals gave us some sound advice and they have committed themselves to assisting us wherever possible which is fantastic news, however we need you.

Can you help in any of these areas:
- We are now aiming to create a charity where we can raise funding for this project and need interested residents to help build the project through volunteering their time. Below are the arrangements for a meeting of interested people to come along to offer their help.

- We need land, do you have any that you could donate to the project that would be a suitable memorial site.

- We need researchers, to ensure no one is missed from every conflict that our country has endured, since WW1.

- We need information from you about any relative who was a casualty of a conflict that you feel should be included on a named war memorial.

- And, of course we need funds! Any donations are welcome and in this early stage can be made out to Euxton Parish Council who will hold the donations and pass over to the group when a bank account has been set up.

Whether you are a surviving relative or not, your support is needed please let us know if you want and can help us create 'one small town memorial to remember them all'.

Please contact Jim Brotherston or call 01257 412133 if you feel you can help or contribute information, email: euxtonmemorial@ymail.com

We are arranging a meeting for the project so residents can attend to learn more about the project, donate their time or knowledge to the project. The aim of the meeting is to get a core group of volunteers to be 'Euxton Memorial' committee members so a constitution can be agreed and a bank account opened. The initial aim is to raise £5,000 so charitable status can be gained. Grants will be applied for by the group when set up, but public donations will be the most important element to the project and any help from you will be welcome.

Jim Brotherston