LEST WE FORGET: Chairman Jim Carroll, left, with fellow members John Adey and Alan Summerson, right, from the Chester-le-Street War Memorial Group. Picture: DAVID WOOD
CHESTER-LE-STREET’S Remembrance service will be more poignant than usual.
For years there have rumblings of discontent about the small obelisk opposite the town’s parish church that has been its memorial for more than 20 years.
Now the first service will be held today, in the First World War centenary, at a new monument in the town’s Market Place.
The new memorial – unlike its predecessor – bears the name of 453 service personnel to perish in conflicts since 1914 and whose names do not appear on any other memorial in the area.
The memorial takes the place of the ill-fated Civic Arch that was created for the revamp of the Market Place, but suffered from vandalism.
The original plan had been to build the memorial opposite the Market Place at Bridge End, but when the arch was demolished there was strong local support for the memorial to take its place.
War memorial group chairman Jim Carroll said: “I am very pleased and very relieved. We got together a group that was dedicated to fetching up a war memorial for Chester-le-Street, that is the be-all and end-all of it.
“I hope the people of Chester-le-Street enjoy it and it is there for years to come.”
The parade starts at 10.15am.The service will begin at 10.45am.
