Make sure our war memorials are clean
EACH year as a family we attend the Remembrance Service at Ashtonunder-Lyne Memorial Gardens and we are very fortunate that we attend and pay our respects without any personal connections.
At the end of this year’s service when the majority of people had left, we approached the main war memorial to look at the wreathes.
Close by, a gentleman was standing by one of the two smaller memorials inscribed with the names of servicemen from more recent conflicts.
The man obviously had a personal connection to one former soldier and was troubled at the condition of the monument; it was absolutely filthy and the names almost impossible to read.
Finally, after a couple of minutes, the man resorted to use his own hand and water from a puddle, in an attempt to clean and ultimately reveal the name of Sean Dawson, from Stalybridge, who died whilst serving with The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment on February 14, 2010. It was sad to see.
I acknowledge that these memorials have to be treated with care, but if nothing else, can they not be cleaned regularly with at least a sponge and some warm water?
For all these soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, then is it not the least we can do, but to honour their memory in a more dignified way? David Cooper, Ashton IT worked. TfGM reads the M.E.N. St Peter’s Square Metrolink stop had a cat’s lick and a promise of a clean for Armistice Day.
Keep your beady eye on them. We pay their wages. George Smith, Little Hulton