Barry War Memorial

[Ferguson73uk]

Pals may be aware of my research into the 635 men listed on the War Memorial in Barry, South Wales. A fundraising group has now been formed to raise £15,000 to restore the Roll of Honour boards and £35,000 to restore the Cenotaph outside the Memorial Hall. I just wondered if anyone who had been involved in a similar project had any thoughts about grants etc. available to fund such projects. We will be approaching local businesses and organising local collectiosn etc. but if anyone has any ideas which are 'outside the box' I'd be glad to hear them.

Thanks!

Jonathan

[spoons]

I recently wanted to photograph the Northampton Memorial which is now behind locked gates so I contacted the local branch of the British Legion. A fellow came along and opened it up for me and gave me a great deal of info about how it had been renovated at considerable cost and how they had a secondary project to protect it from some of the (shall we say) lest respectful members of society. I think it would be worthwhile you contacting him and/or your local British Legion if not already involved. I will PM you his name and address.

[Ferguson73uk]

Thanks for the message. Will do!

Jonathan

[Bernard_Lewis]

Hi Jonathan. Try this link:

http://www.warmemorials.org/

They do give small grants/advice,cover Wales and have regional reps who might be able to assist. Also try the local Council (South Glam?) - emphasising the part played by LOCAL men, community council (if you have one). Any local/national regimental associations that might be relevant? Any school old boys associations? Lottery fund?

Newspaper appeal for donations? Get the local reporter to take up the cause with some publicity based on your research into local men - a story, photo and then an appeal in the paper for cash/kind help in renovating the tangible reminder of the sacrifices made. PM me your home address and I'll send you a (small) cheque to kick it off.

Hope this helps

Bernard

[spoons]

Newspaper appeal for donations? Get the local reporter to take up the cause with some publicity based on your research into local men - a story, photo and then an appeal in the paper for cash/kind help in renovating the tangible reminder of the sacrifices made.

A long shot, but might be worth checking if any local bigwigs or journalists had any relatives listed. Press coverage usually works better with a 'handle'.

[Bernard_Lewis]

Jonathan - another thing: who owns the memorial? The Council? The owner must have a moral obligation to look after it.

ps at present you can only contact me by pm NOT e-mail.

Bernard

[Ferguson73uk]

Thanks, Bernard! That's very kind of you. Donations should be sent to :

Barry Remembers,

Memorial Hall Theatre Trust,

Gladstone Road,

Barry.

CF62 8NA

made payable to 'Barry Remembers'.

'War Memorials' seem keen to help us as well.

We are also looking into the part that the Barry Town Council can play, but it's a very small authority within the Vale of Glamorgan.

As a by-product, in visiting the Chairman of the appeal I came across a number of very interesting documents associated with the building of the Hall and may have a lead in tracking down the 'unknown' men that I can't trace on the Roll of Honour.

Jonathan

[Paul Johnson]

Jonathan,

I think what you are doing is highly admirable but the responsibility for the maintenance of the war memorial lays with the local council, irrespective of whether it's a City council or local parish council.

Your group should join forces with the local branch of the Royal British Legion and bring pressure on the council to carry out their duty. This is exactly what we did in Stevenage when the War Memorial needed renovating. It had limestone panels which were being destroyed by the weather and the environment. After much campaigning, the local council conceded their responsibility and overlaid the existing panels with Bronze panels containing the details.

Sadly, the materials used to keep the bronze panels clean are now destroying the limestone plinths and the council are faced with a large dilemma. However, to their credit, they accept that the maintenance continues to be their responsibility.

It will undoubtedly be a long drawn out fight with the council but it could be worth it in the long run, as ongoing maintenance is very expensive. Perhaps it could be agreed with them that your group will raise half the money for the initial restoration if they put up the other half and pay for the ongoing maintenance.

That way, you can be assured of maintaining the memories of those whose names are recorded on the memorial for a very long time.

Good Luck and keep us posted on your progress.

PAUL JOHNSON

[Ferguson73uk]

Thanks, Paul. I've only been asked to help in the last week or so but one of my many jobs will include chasing up why Barry Council won't pay for the restoration. I've a feeling that they have handed it over to a private trust as they couldn't afford the upkeep. I'll let everyone know when I have a definitive answer.

Good news, though. At the start of this week, the Davies family who originally matched pound-for-pound the money raised by public subscription to build the Cenotaph and Hall in 1930 and 1932 respectively, sent us a cheque for £10,000, so we're off to a flying start. Only £50k to go!!!

Regards,

Jonathan

[Ferguson73uk]

Thought I'd let you all know that Santa has arrived laden with cheques in the Vale of Glamorgan. We're now up to £40,000 in donations. Not bad for a month's work. The town council (who have agreed to fund the cost of restoring the Cenotaph, but not the Roll of Honour) and the county council, plus local industry, have provided the largest donations, plus individual donations. We're planning a 'mile of pounds' to echo the original fundraisers 'mile of pennies' as well. Things are looking good.

I'm organising an exhibition for next November to tie in with the rededication, plus I hope to have my publication ready by then.

Season's Greetings to one and all,

(love the Lewis Gun caption competition by the way!!)

Jonathan

[auchonvillerssomme]

http://www.warmemorials.org/

Must be one of the least interesting websites on the net.

Mick

[stiletto_33853]

Johnathan,

£40,000 in one month, many congratulations, a great start. For your exhibition next year if you would like the Rosser medal in my collection for the exhibition let me know, I would be only too happy to send it to you.

Andy

[Ferguson73uk]

Johnathan,

£40,000 in one month, many congratulations, a great start. For your exhibition next year if you would like the Rosser medal in my collection for the exhibition let me know, I would be only too happy to send it to you.

Andy

Thanks, Andy. That would be great. Two other collectors of Barry men have agreed to lend their medals for the day, too, and I'm organising the framing of the photographs I've found. With some memorablia and ephemera it should turn out quite well.

Jonathan

[Bernard_Lewis]

Fantastic news! Well done.

Bernard

[Ferguson73uk]

South Wales Pals - date for your diaries: our exhibition on 'Barry and the Great War' is booked for Saturday 10th Nov. 2007 in the Barry Memorial Hall 10 -4pm. The rededication of the Roll of Honour and Cenotaph will occur on the nicely-timed Sunday 11th November. Should be a fitting present-day tribute to the hundreds of Barry casualties. The funds are rolling in (a big thank you to all Pals who have donated) and an architect has been engaged. We will also be organising a longer-running display at the superb newly-opened Barry Library.

Best wishes to all for 2007!

Jonathan

[Ferguson73uk]

Thought Pals might like to know that yesterday I submitted a list of 75 men I've found who are missing from Barry's Roll of Honour. Also a list of the gallantry medal winners who are, or should be, on the RoH without any indication of the medal they won. The local branch of the Royal British Legion have said they will consider these shortly. Fingers crossed!

Jonathan

[John84]

Thought Pals might like to know that yesterday I submitted a list of 75 men I've found who are missing from Barry's Roll of Honour. Also a list of the gallantry medal winners who are, or should be, on the RoH without any indication of the medal they won. The local branch of the Royal British Legion have said they will consider these shortly. Fingers crossed!

Jonathan

Jonathan

Well done with your fund raising, very generous lot of people down your way. £10,000 from the Davies family WOW!

Jonathan can I ask you please do you know why the 75 names were missing from Barry's Roll of Honour. I noticed you said that you have traced some interesting documents associated with the building of the Hall and may have a lead in tracking down your 'unknown' men. Do the documents say anything about your missing 75 names, if not, may I offer a word of caution about adding names to memorials.

Through our own research we have found some very interesting facts, and like yourself we have found a few lads that where from our village and are not commemorated on our original memorial. But here we have been very lucky, for we have also traced the original documentation relating to the names put forward to go on memorial. Also on the original documentation (including letters) given to the then War Memorial Committee are some lads names put forward by their next of kin as to why they did not want their loved ones names placed on the memorial.

One woman gave her reason as to not having her husband put on, she whished to remember him in her own way and that his name was not needed to be carved on a wooden panel, as it was forever carved on her heart. Further research found the old lady died in her 91st year....she never re-married. So we feel that no way can we act against her wishes and place his name on the new memorial; but his name will be mentioned in an accompanying book about the village war dead.

There are a couple more similar cases to this and we feel that it would also be inappropriate to place their names on the new memorial and act against the families wishes, so they too will be just going in the book.

Like I said, we are very lucky to have been able to see the original documentation about names put forward for inclusion on the original memorial and also for those wishing not to have their loved ones remembered this way.

I must also point out that we will be adding names on our new war memorial, the original war memorial is in our C.E.church; there were several families from the village that were catholic, etc. In the documentation it states they wished their loved ones to be commemorated, but did not want their names placing on the C.E. church memorial; these lads are commemorated nowhere in our village. Our new memorial is a civic memorial and will be placed on the village green and have no reference to religion whatsoever.

Good luck Jonathan, keep up your good work and please let us known how things progress.

John.

[Ferguson73uk]

Hi John,

You make some very interesting points. Unfortunately, our town council, in their wisdom, shredded all the documentation relating to the formation of the Roll of Honour. The 75 names are those of men who were living in Barry at the time of their enlistment. The RoH was not complied until 1930 and with geographical mobility, families had moved on as unemployment hit the town hard, or had simply died out. The original criteria seem to have been haphazard, with some rather tenuous links to Barry (but I'm glad they're on there), so I believe these 75 have a strong case for inclusion.

I've invested a good deal of time in writing articles for the local papers to publicise my work and that has led to several families of missing men contacting me (including an MM winner). As you can imagine, they have already booked Nov 11th in their diaries!

Incidentally, there will be two separate boards listing the RoH men who received gallantry awards - one for the Great War and one for WW2. (Guess who got the job of finding out the names of the WW2 recipients!)

Regards,

Jonathan