Heywood unveil 2014 – 2018 WW1 Centenary commemorations

Forgotten Wars and All Veterans Memorial

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Heywood Township councillors have decided the commemorations of the 2014 WW1 Centenary should not be in celebration, but rather in solemn reflection and remembrance of all those who have died and have served in our Armed Forces since the start of the Great War.

To that end it was decided that Heywood Township, supported by the Armed Forces Covenant Partners, the Lancashire Veterans Association, will commemorate the centenary by a new memorial to “All Veterans and Forgotten Wars” by best utilising present memorial structures.

This will then fully complete the Memorial Gardens and acknowledges/honours  all who have served, even in Britain’s so called small/forgotten/dirty wars and of which all veterans are especially aggrieved off, with no acknowledgment by the nation.

The full order of events commemorating the First World War will span from the centenary of the outbreak of war in 2014 until that of Armistice Day in 2018. 

Commemoration dates:

• Outbreak of war,  1 August 2014 
• First day of conflict, 4 August 2014
• Gallipoli Campaign, 25 April 2015 
• Battle of the Somme, 1 July 2016
• Battle of Jutland, 31 May 2016 
• Passchendaele, 17 June 2017
• Armistice Day, 11 November 2018

Appropriate siting within the memorial gardens along with scale, design and memorial inscriptions was delegated to the Cllr Alan McCarthy in the capacity as the Council Lead Member for the Armed forces and Chairman of the LVA on behalf of the Veterans and progressed through the War Memorial Committee. 

The Heywood War Memorial Trust was set up with the remit of maintenance of the memorial gardens which has subsequently been taken over as a responsibility of Rochdale Council.

The Heywood War Memorial Trust has decided that it will support Heywood Township and add all its remaining funding available, estimated to be in the region of £11,000 into the project to ensure that the WW1 Centenary Commemorations plans are realised.

The Secretary of State has approved the additions of the stone carved and painted flags to the original memorial which will be carried out by local Heywood Sculptor Harry Simpson. 

Cllr Alan McCarthy, Rochdale Council Lead Member for the Armed Forces and Heywood Councillor said: “I would like to thank all for their hard work in progressing this project, all the Township councillors, the War Memorial Committee comprising of Lancashire Veterans Association Chairman Harry Mills and SAAFA representative Norma Langford.
103 regiment royal artillery for moving the flagpoles from the present position into the memorial gardens to enable wreath laying on future Armed Forces day flag raising events and Council Officers for making this a reality”. 

Harry Mills said: "The Lancashire Veterans Association are proud to have been involved in bringing this vision to fruition. As someone who served in some of the 'forgotten wars', notably Kenya, Aden, Northern Ireland and Radfan, I had several of my 'mates' killed or injured and have lobbied for many years for greater recognition of their sacrifices.

"To my knowledge there are many veterans of Borneo, Malaya, Korea, Suez etc living within a twenty mile radius of Heywood and several travel into our town to take part in or observe the parades. We have even had veterans from as far afield as North Yorkshire and I know that they will be feeling the same as I do.

"Heywood is among the few towns to have taken positive action and I wish to thank everyone involved. In these times of austerity it is often difficult to strike the right balance between arranging a suitable memorial and not spending too much public money but Heywood has managed to achieve this and I like everything about the plans."

Norma Langford, SSAFA Bereaved Families Support Group said: "I think the use of present memorial structures to include and honour Veterans and those who served in the Forgotten Wars is an appropriate move in keeping the uniformity of Heywood’s already admirable memorials and gardens.

"I also agree that commemorations made in solemn reflection and remembrance will be a fitting tribute to all those of Heywood who died while serving their country from World War 1 to the present day."