history


War Memorial
1919 RUYTON XI TOWNS PEACE COMMITTEE MINUTES
by Irena White

The best way to commemorate, to raise funds and to organize events to mark the Peace Members of the whole committee, twenty.                                                                                                                          Chair..Mr Richard Brown.Treasurer,  Mr W.H.Gittins ..Secretary,  Mr W.H.Riddlesworth,            Mrs Noel-Hill,.  Miss E Kenyon, .Mr J.H.Ballard. Shotatton,..Mr R.Birch.. Wigmarsh,  (later resigned  was replace by the Vicar)..Mr John Durnell Weirbrook..Mr Warwick Edwards, ..                    Mr F.T.Howell,..Mr John Howells,..Mr W.J.Hughes,..Captain C.Hunt, ..Mr W.Lewis Eardiston,..Mr W.W.Lloyd Shelvock,..Mr Matthews Wykey,..Mr D.Morgan,..Mr E.Parry,..                     Mr E Rawlings,..Mr G.Taylor.

Suggestions made. Miss E.Kenyon  A playing field for boys and young men suitable for Cricket and Football.  Mrs Noel-Hill A Wayside Cross in memory of the fallen.  Mrs Broughall Monument or Cross with seats, surplus money to fund a German Gun.   Mrs Morgan Spoke in favour of the much needed field.  Mr John Howells, the present Cross to have upper portion filled in and tablets of hard stone inside.  Mr Edwin Tomlinson, four panels at the present cross, and a playing field. .  Mr Riddlesworth, if using the present cross only the names of the fallen to be inserted.  But preferred that the memorial should be at the entrance of the playing field if adopted. Mr Hughes, endorsement of a Nursing fund.                        Mr William Morgan, supported the Wayside Cross and expressed a wish that no German gun be place in the village in deference to the feelings of the relatives of the fallen.                 

It was thought that to use present cross was unworthy of the fallen and unfair to members of the Wilkinson family who created it.   A proposed playing field was likely to split the parish and to reduce subscriptions.   The Committee also went to view the garden of the Victoria Rooms as a possible site for a cross, to be of local stone from Dunnings Wood and to stand about 14 feet high .The base of which might be of granite or marble with a simple tablet giving the name of the fallen .The Architect rejected this proposal as he felt that at such a height the local stone was too soft and it would erode very quickly.                                                                                                                                                         

After much discussion the suggestion of a playing field was rejected, as was another site on the wall on the church bank, where a small tablet could be installed, but this idea was rejected as the committee thought it not in keeping.  As part of the donations they had received, an offer from Mr Briscoe of Rock Cottage Brownhill proposing that alongside his property there was a sandstone outcrop which he would donate for the War Memorial. This was accepted by the architect and the committee.                                                                                 

The Architect Mr Stanley Vaughan of London put forward a scheme for the memorial to consist of a recess hewn into the rock on the Southside of the road on Brownhill. Near Rock Cottage the home of Mr Briscoe. The excavation to be about 10 feet high and 10 feet wide 6 Feet deep with a cross at the back cut from solid stone , a tablet in solid bronze or gunmetal or copper to be place in the side of the recess. Steps leading to the cave and a stone seat on one or each side inside the cave and a shaft cut admitting light from above to fall upon the cross. The eventual costs paid to Warwick Edwards being £42.14.00, with the plaque costing £12.00.  It was felt that there should be no gates or railings.

It was suggested that there should be guard stone each side of the entrance, but the work did not go ahead. Before any work could begin the G.P.O. had to remove a telegraph pole sited alongside.                                          

Finding a suitable company to make the plaque was left to the architect and he decided that a ceramic plaque made by the Potters Guild of Guildford (later The Compton Pottery) was suitable. Originally the plaque was due to have the laurel wreath and the coat of arms coloured, or darkened, but having seen the uncoloured plaque it was felt that it was acceptable as it was.                                                                                                                                                    

It was also decided that the money collected should be spent on having a Roll of Honour on either an Oak Board or on Parchment giving the names of all those who had served as well as the fallen.  It was decided that Wildings of Shrewsbury should produce it and that it was to be presented to the School to be kept in perpetuity and that it could be inspected by any who wished to see it at a convenient time.



 
 
 
 

 






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