Anyone walking down Lawton St will have undoubtedly noticed that work has started on the refurbishment of The Cenotaph. This project is being carried out jointly by The Congleton Partnership and Congleton Town Council.
The aims of the project were to add the 240+ missing names, to resolve ongoing maintenance issues ie general condition of the overall site, safety issues, and making it DDA compliant. The scheme has been 7 years in the planning and fundraising, supported by a band of volunteer residents, members of local organisations and councillors and latterly some local businesses.
Over the 7 years consultations, exhibitions, presentations, appeals, social media and articles in The Congleton Chronicle have helped drive the fundraising activity, Cheshire East supported the scheme by repairing the Cole Hill Bank wall and along with The Congleton Partnership carried out some tree works resulting from a full tree report to rid both deceased and dangerous growth from the site.
Work plan is for:-
Site Clearance & Security – w/c 22.6.20
Construction starts – w/c 29.6.20
Landscaping – w/c 21.9.20
Handover – w/c 5.10.20
Dedication Ceremony – Spring 2021 tbc
All salvageable items have been removed from the site and are being stored until a new use can be made of them. The old plaques are going to The Museum for safe storage and display when appropriate. The Old Saxon Cross have been retained and will stand proudly at the centre of the new Cenotaph.
The work is being carried out by Midland Masonry, the project is being managed by John K Carter with QS support from Mark Spender (Stringer and Pickford )
Once the project is completed a dedication event will be organized, possibly spring 2021 as current COVID regulations/ directives make anything earlier difficult to plan/organize. Hopefully, the annual Armistice Day Parade and Service will be able to hold in some form or other.
Finally, a Friends of the Cenotaph board will be sited as a tribute to all who have been able to support the project through finance and in kind. This ranges from Residents, relatives of the fallen, local trusts, local business, local clubs and organisations, plus local statutory bodies.
The list currently stands at:-
- Congleton Town Council
- Congleton Lions
- Congleton Partnership
- Rotary Club
- Cheshire East
- Rugby Club
- Inclosure Trust Town Trust
- William Dean Trust
- Tesco Bags Of Help
- Hammond McNulty
- Diamond Electronics
- Friends of Congleton Park
- Timothy A Brown
- Three-Way Travel
- Parish of Congleton
- History Society
- Letters of War
- Jennings garden open day
- Congleton residents and relatives of those who gave their lives.
Mike Smith
Congleton Partnership
01260 270350 Etn 7
For more information view our PowerPoint presentation.
I walked past the Cenotaph today , it was nothing but a rubble site with a digger in the middle ,with no activity happening .
It is only 4 months to Rememberance ,I trust this work will be done by then .After all it has taken 7 years to even start to restore the Memorial .
It is not as if this is a small town , it should have been done years ago .
Shame ,shame ,shame ,maybe at last the men who died WILL be honoured and afforded respect .
Thanks for the comment Margaret, we expect the project to be finished in the proposed timescales, a lot of people have worked very hard to get to this point and give the men the honour they deserve as you have quite rightly said.
Where can I find a list of the names of those who died in world war 2 that have been included on the cenotaph?