IN MEMORY: The war memorial in Sherburn Village
THE centenary of the First World War is being marked in Sherburn Village, near Durham City, by installing additions to its seven-year-old war memorial.
Two inscribed granite stones are being placed on either side of the monument, which is next to the community centre.
The parish council has obtained £5,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for its commemorations, which also saw a new clock and plaque installed at the community centre earlier in the year.
The memorial, which commemorates the dead of both world wars, was built in 2007 after a fund-raising campaign by residents secured the £6,000 needed for its creation.
The village had two separate indoor memorials – in its church and in its school – for years but neither records all the men who gave their lives in the wars.
Parish council chairman Jimmy Leadbitter, said: “We are going to have two additional granite stones, one either side of the existing memorial.
“One will commemorate the outbreak of the First World War and the other the end of the war.
“There will be two poems on the stones by war poets and poppies at each end.
“On the anniversary of the outbreak of war we had a new clock put up at the community centre, and that went down really well.
“After that we thought how about looking for some funding. The funding is coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
“There is a groundswell of support in the village for having it.”
It is expected that the additions to the memorial will be completed in time for this year’s service of remembrance.
“The stonemason has got the stones ready. It is just a matter of him coming out and siting them and erecting them.
“The stones stand about two and a half foot.
“The existing memorial has the names of the war dead.”
An exhibition of First World War artefacts and memorabilia will be held in the community centre on Remembrance Day and on the following Monday and Tuesday.
“We have got a big old street map on the wall that we got from Durham County Council and we have marked on it where people passed away,” said Mr Leadbitter.
“And we have got a contemporary map so people can see where places were.
“The schoolchildren have been involved and done poetry and been drawing pictures.”
