Memorial found home after six-year battle

WITH reference to Mr Derick Holden’s letter of April 24, regarding the history of the Two Ships war memorial.

Around 1919 the pub customers and people of the area known as the Mount had collections every week to pay for the memorial.

In around 1938-39, the area was demolished, including the Two Ships pub on Queen Street.

The Brewery must have put the memorial in storage.

In 1940 the brewery opened a brand new modern Two Ships on the corner of Hope Street and Union Street and gave the memorial a place for all to see.

Then, from being a very nice pub, over the years it went very rough.

The last owner, a Captain Calder Mellvile, left with not a great opinion of Rochdale.

On leaving he took the memorial with him to Yorkshire and would not return it to Rochdale until it was treated with the respect it deserved.

Then started a six-yearlong battle to get it back to Rochdale, where it belonged.

I then began to get in touch with various people such as the British Legion, councillors, MPs, but for some reason none of them appeared to be interested.

I then contacted our then Liberal Democrat MP Paul Rowen, who showed a great interest and in the following years did a great job in contacting Captain Calder Mellvile and the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum in Bury.

After much correspondence Calder Mellvile agreed to give it to the museum, where it would be treated with the respect it deserved.

Even then, the museum included the proviso there must be LF names on it before they would accept it. There were 91. P Convoy

DO THEM UP OR FLATTEN THEM

I LIVE in College Bank flats and agree with Ian Ogden.

The money for updating the flats, which we were promised when RBH took over, must sadly have gone astray.

We need doors (balcony and front), all windows and the toilets need cleaning, they leave terrible smells in the loo.

When I rang RBH up to complain about smelly bathrooms I was told to fill my bath and let it all out at once, perhaps two or three times a week.

People who wreck their ●●Then MP Paul Rowen (right) with Coun Peter Clegg and Peter Conroy with the Two Ships pub memorial in the Fusiliers Museum in 2009. front doors can have a new white front door, again not us who pay for rent and council tax.

If RBH are not prepared to do them up they need knocking down before they fall down. Angry flat dweller Rochdale