The speaker for our September talk, held at Cross Corners on Tuesday 12th September, was Denis Kenyon. Denis gave a fascinating talk about the role of the “At Risk War Memorial Project” in rescuing and preserving the War Memorials that are located inside churches and buildings that would otherwise be lost due to the demolition or change of use of those buildings. Denis not only conveyed the anger that he felt about the way that the memorials had often been dumped, scrapped or even destroyed with no thought of the reason for their existence, but he also entertained the audience with stories of how many of the memorials came to be rescued.
The title of this talk comes from a memorial scroll which was sent to the families of all fallen servicemen. The memorial scroll is headed with the Royal Arms and written in a decorative italic script, with the name of the recipient added in blue ink below the official text. The full wording reads;
“He whom this scroll commemorates was numbered among those who,
at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them,
endured hardness, faced danger and finally passed out of
the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice, giving up their own
lives that others might live in freedom.
Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten“.
A slightly lower number of people attended the talk than last time, probably due to the weather – our first wet day for some time! This didn’t prevent a lively discussion about the talk afterwards.
For more information about the project, and for details of when you can visit All Saints church to see the memorials themselves, please visit: https://www.atriskwarmemorials.co.uk
