Northwich War Memorial, Cheshire
11.02.19
We were delighted to receive the following feedback from Town Clerk, Chris Shaw, and the award winning team at Northwich Town Council. It was a pleasure to work alongside the National Association of Local Councils Council of the Year!
”Northwich Town Council have worked with Proffitts over the last few years and have always found them to be professional, efficient and knowledgeable. Our last project involved a total transformation of the Northwich Cenotaph which encountered some issues due to the nature of the project. However these issues were resolved quickly so that the project could meet its completion deadline of Remembrance Day. I would have no hesitation in using Proffitts for any future projects.”
12.09.18
Today, we attended the official reopening of the Northwich Cenotaph. The long lasting physical improvement that we see here today were part of a wider project involving pupils from Witton Church Walk who very generously offered their time to investigate and research some of the men through school work, artwork and visits to the archive office in Chester and the Imperial War Museum.
Oh behalf of both Northwich Town Council, who headed the project with the assistance of Proffitts, I would like to thank the community, residents and relatives, especially of those this monument honours, for all their patience and support for the project. Thank you again to the teachers and pupils of Witton Church Walk Primary for all thier input and applying the finishing touches to the project. The quality of the planting the children did is phenomenal and is a wonderful example of community support for the project – well done! Thanks also go to Alan Lowe, representing Northwich and District Historical Society. Alan gave a considerable amount of time and gave depth and meaning to the children’s learning experience of World War 1 – to their understanding of the men from Northwich who fought and the War memorial itself. Alan has even donated some personal artefacts to the school which will be used each year to help pupils understand World War 1 in their studies.
We also need to thank Northwich Town Council officers for their ongoing support, for helping to pull the project together and for their efforts in keeping things on track so we can appreciate the improvements here today.
Huge thanks to the funders Heritage Lottery Fund, Tesco Carrier Bags for Help and Groundwork. It wouldn’t have been possible to achieve so much without them. They have been very supportive of the project and understanding of the difficulties faced by the contractors and delivery team when they arose.
We’d also like to mention the hard work undertaken by the main contractors Roslee, sub contractor Stone Guard and Raven Forge. They worked together and managed to deliver the refurbishment of this wonderful, respected war memorial here in Northwich.
Thank you all!
26.07.18
Here’s the full Evaluation Report for the project. Thanks again to everyone who supported us with this!
Northwich War Memorial Evaluation 24.07
24.07.18
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to share their thoughts about this project in Northwich – especially the children! It’s been lovely to read your feedback. If you’d like to take a look at what people think, then please click on the two links below for questions and comments. Thanks again to everyone who responded. If you have any other information to share, you can leave a comment on this page at any time.
12.07.18
With the full support of Heritage Lottery Fund and staff from Northwich Town Council, we have now completed the physical improvements of the War Memorial at Northwich! Now we’d really like to get your feedback about the project. If you could take 2 minutes to share your thoughts and complete the short survey on the link below, we’d really appreciate it. Thank you!
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NorthwichEvaluation
25.06.18
Working with staff from Northwich Town Council we had a thoroughly enjoyable planting session with pupils from Witton Church Walk Primary School to help finish off the newly improved war memorial – adding a splash of colour. The children from Witton Church Walk Primary school have been invaluable throughout the delivery of this project – so once a gain a big, big thank you! Check out the pictures below:
15.06.18
Works on site at Northwich Cenotaph are nearing the end now with the installation of these beautiful hand forged railings from Raven Fabrications. Pupils from Witton Church Walk Primary School will be assisting Northwich Town Council and Proffitts next week to plant up the flower beds. Watch this space!!
13.06.18
Hi everyone – look at these fab photos of the railings. They are back from galvanising and painting and they should be installed later this week. The hand forged tops to the posts look great; a lovely detail. We can’t wait to see them in situ finally!
7.06.18
Take a look at the brilliant window display set up by Steph at Northwich Town Council. Looks great and really informative 🙂 All done with the help of the pupils and staff at Witton Church Walk Primary School. Thank you!
24.04.18
As you can see from these images – there has been a lot of progress recently and the paving is looking absolutely fantastic. A job very well done by the quarry and the team who laid them – thank you!
Also, our artist Carolyn Shepherd, has now finished the flag which was designed using ideas from the local school children at Whitton Walk primary. A big thank you to everyone involved in this element too. Please click on the link for further information.
https://northwichcenotaphww1centenary.wordpress.com/2018/04/05/flag-flying-at-last/
07.03.18
Thanks for taking an interest in this project. The war memorial here at Northwich means so much to a lot of people. Its starting to have some meaning for the children at Witton Church Walk Primary School who helped local artist Carolyn Shepherd with ideas to create a flag that can be used year after year at each Remembrance Sunday. You can keep up to speed with the progress of the flag here: https://northwichcenotaphww1centenary.wordpress.com/about/
Please feel free to share and leave comments we would really like to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
01.02.10
Hi everyone – just wanted to say a big thank you to pupils from Witton Walk Primary School for joining us on the trip to the Cheshire Archives Office. I personally had a great time! We managed to look at what life was like at the school as far back as the 1840’s by reading the head master diaries right through to the 1930’s. There was even a reference to a teacher trying to sign up to join the army on the 1st September 1914. Fortunately or unfortunately he didn’t pass the medical. We were also able to see the school register covering the period of WWI and how the area around the school built up from the 1760’s (when there was no school – just the church and arable farm land) through to the 1840’s, 1880, 1930’s and 1970’s – alot of change there was!
What else did we do? Oh yes, some of the pupils had some names of relatives that they wanted to look up and find out more about using really useful websites https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ and https://search.ancestry.co.uk/ which you can use for free in any library in Cheshire. Get down there! We found the following out using some basic info to start:
Gerald Humphrey Moore
Corporal 6th Battalion Royal Irish Rgt (No: 8438)
KIA 7th June 1917
- Info on Ancient Faces website – confirms date of death and that he is buried in Ypres, Menin Gate, Memorial Panel 33, Belgium. Site confirms that 3,867 soldiers died on this date and there are further links to the events on this day
- On the Menin Gate Memorial Roll of Honour site there is a picture of him
- On Roll of Honour.com / Dorset site it confirms his details are on Child Okeford war memorial. He was 31 when he died. Son of Joseph and Alice Moore of Child Okeford and husband of Evelyn Ella Moore of New Milton, Hampshire
- Library Ancestry site confirms where he is from and where he died. He enlisted in Christchurch, Hants on 3rd Sep, 1914. Clicking through the documents / WW1 Service records it confirms when he enlisted and died and that he completed 2 years and 281 days. Documents list his occupation as ‘groom’ and there a medical forms confirming height and measurements, along with vaccination information
- He had 4 children born between 1909 and 1914
Garabaldi W Davies
2nd / 1st East Anglian Ambulance (Royal Army Corps)
KIA July 1917
- The site about The Bedfordshire Regiment gives the following info: Died aged 31. Buried in the Gaza War Cemetery. He was born, resident and enlisted in Ipswich, Suffolk. He was the son of Mr and Mrs Ixer, Ipswich. He died on the first night of the Umbrella Hill raids – more info available on this if people want to research this further
- West Wales Memorial Project site – Pembrokeshire – Maenclochog War Memorial tells us that his full name was Garabaldi William Davies. Private, 61766, Royal Army Medical Corps. Born 5th May 1886. Parents were called William and Martha. He worked at Ocean Quarries. Married Margaret Elizabeth Pearce at Bridgend on 28th March 1910. He enlisted in 26th July 1915 in Cardiff. Served in Gallipoli and Palestine – was hoping to rescue men wounded on the battlefields during the Battle of Gaza but KIA, aged 31, on 20th July 2017. Buried in Gaza War Cemetery, Israel
- Welsh site Llandoidy.com says he was part of the pre-war territorial force and he landed in Gallipoli, Sulva Bay on 10th August 1915. After fighting on the Peninsula they were evacuated during December and moved to Palestine via Egypt
- Library Ancestry site – confirms info similar to above, and census info for the household, also see that he had a child, Eurog born 27th June 1914.
The children also had the opportunity to read and discover what it was like before, during and after the war by having access to newspapers through microfiche from the year 1914 right through to 1918 and then on to 1925 when the war memorial was erected. They found it fascinating to see that the front page of the papers was always advertising for products and that the material on the war itself was on pages 5 or 6.
The visit was completed with a visit to the strong rooms of the Archives centre were many precious and rare items are kept such as legal agreements dating back to the 10th century with the kings seal!!
We were also lucky enough for Alan Lowe – a member of the Northwich and District Heritage Society – to come along and help us make sense of what the children were seeing. Thanks Alan and thanks for the lovely quote below:
“Just to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you and the children for a lovely day, please feel free to ask me along to similar things any time”
Finally, the work on the war memorial itself is going very well with the flags being laid later this week and into next. We’ll post a few pictures of that next time!
18.01.2018
Please click on the link below – artist, Carolyn Shepherd, has been keeping a record of artwork which has been developed from workshops with children from Witton Walk Primary School in Northwich. Some really interesting ideas and techniques are coming through and we are really looking forward to the finished product!
https://northwichcenotaphww1centenary.wordpress.com/
18.12.2017
Here’s a link that you all may be interested in – The Cheshire County Memorial Project. Take a look:
http://www.cheshirecountymemorialroll.com/
14.12.2017
The freezing temperatures and rain don’t stop work in Northwich! Stone is being cleaned ready for reuse in the rebuilt and repaired pillars #restoration #Heritage #Northwich
7.12.2017
Paid a visit to site late in the day today and it looks great! Keep it up guys. Thank you!
6.12.2017
Restoration and refurbishment is well underway at Northwich Cenotaph now. The Cenotaph itself has been cleaned and repointed (and looks rather beautiful) and the bronze plaques will be cleaned and waxed later this week.
Stone pillars around the boundary wall are in the process of being carefully taken down, cleaned and rebuilt for safety reasons and to ensure all traces of the old rusting railings are removed, preventing future damage and cracking.
Two sections of wall have been rebuilt as well to remove remains of well established ivy which was threatening to destabilise the structure and to make it safe again.
21.11.2017
Exciting times! Refurbishment starting on site at #Northwich #Cenotaph
20.11.2017
Northwich War Memorial to get a facelift after almost 100 years! Click here to read the story in the Northwich Guardian.
26.9.2017
Had a really interesting visit to the Archives Office In Chester the other week with some really interesting sources of information that we thought we would share with you all:
· Cheshire Image Bank http://cheshireimagebank.org.uk/index.php type into the search bar ‘Northwich world war’ – but play around with key words. You can type in anything of interest really and you get some brilliant images popping up!
· Commonwealth War Graves https://www.cwgc.org/ here you can search particular soldiers that fell. You can take your own last name or a particular person you know of for instance – maybe a relative? You can go right into various records of service and also print out a Commemorative Certificate and look at the original reports online to also print.
· Military Museum in Chester may also be a point of interest. ..https://www.cheshiremilitarymuseum.co.uk/
· Get hold of a copy of Tony Bostock’s ‘Northwich Goes to War’. It includes loads of examples of war stories and the responses locally and in the local press. http://northwich-heritage.org.uk/heritage/index.php/publications/22-northwich-goes-to-war
One of the great things was they also had a fair bit of memorabilia to handle so you could get a feel for the people who experienced the front line first hand. Please see https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheshirero/sets/72157639511498873/ This particular soldier from Cheshire –was a cook / got wounded / captured / when recovering was called a coward!
We are hoping to organise another visit with the children at Witton Walk School soon. Watch this space!
26.9.2017
A very helpful member of staff from the records office kindly sent us copies of an article she found in the Northwich Guardian from 1925 when the memorial was installed by General Sir Ian Hamilton… Thought you all might like to see it! Click on the link below to view it.
7.7.2017
Success! We have been successful in attracting funding for the improvement of the cenotaph – funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, Northwich Town Council and Tesco Carrier Bag Fund improvements to the cenotaph itself will start in the next 8 weeks and will be supported by involvement of children from the local primary school Witton Church Walk who will be taking part in research and artwork associated with the cenotaph.
Northwich Cenotaph Sketch Design rev c
16.3.2017
It’s been a few days since we gave you a little nudge…so this is just a little reminder that there is still time to vote! If you agree that the Northwich Cenotaph needs help to re-establish its sense of importance and heritage to the local community, then this is your chance to vote and make a difference. The next time you’re doing your shop at Tesco, don’t forget to collect your small, blue round token from the cashier. Take this to the voting box (usually by the store entrance) and put your token into the ‘Northwich Cenotaph’ box. It’s that simple – it will take just a few seconds but you could be making the difference! Thank you. Please feel free to share this with any friends, family or colleagues that live in and around Northwich. Thanks again.
8.3.2017
We’ve voted – have you??
7.3.2017
More voting help required in conjunction with the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.
This time, this project is centred around planting and lighting improvements made to the Northwich Cenotaph – with the help of the local school children and church and Northwich Town Council.
The cenotaph (Northwich War Memorial) has been located in the grounds of themain cemetery where Church Road and Vicarage Road converge since 1925. It is a stone column tucked away in a small garden recording the manes of the men who fell in both world wars. Over the years the monument has become dilapidated and is in need of an investment to establish its sense of importance and significance to the people of Northwich.
Proposed works:
1. Installation of sensitive up lighting for the monument to highlight it against the dark backdrop of dense canopied trees
2. New sensory planting to replace the bedding plants around the cenotaph to create a more reflective space for contemplation and to enhance the
experience for all visitors
We would hold community planting events with local schools and the wider community to undertake this part of the project. The local school have said they would get involved in the planting aspects and made suggestions that if the monument was lit it would give it more prominence and a sense of importance in the community.
It will lead to the children and church goers taking part in the project learning about the history of the cenotaph, the Great War in particular and
what it meant for the people and their families who went to go and fight for their country. The project will have many social benefits for those taking
part such as those associated with health and wellbeing, empowerment and social inclusion.
The next time you’re doing your shop, please make sure you receive a blue token to vote. Take it to the ‘voting unit’ – usually by the entrance of the store and put your token into the Northwich Cenotaph section. Please see below a list of the Tesco stores taking part in the voting process:
WISTASTON CREWE EXP CW2 6PR
WARMINGHAM MDLWCH EXP CW10 0DJ
NORTHWICH CW9 5LY
NORTHWICH REGENCY EXP CW9 8UW
WEAVERHAM EXPRESS CW8 3EU
WHEELOCK ST MDWCH EXP CW10 9AG
CREWE ARMS EXP CW1 6DN
MIDDLEWICH CW10 9BL
NORTHWICH CHST RD EXP CW8 1HA
CREWE EXTRA 1 CW1 2DD
CREWE EXTRA 1 CW1 2DD
WINSFORD DELAMERE EXP CW7 2RD
Thank you – let’s see if we can make a difference.
29.10.2014
We have been approached by Northwich Town Council to help them plan and fundraise for improvements to their War Memorial.
To begin with, we have produced an initial simple design (click the link below) and are now consulting to find out the views of local people. Northwich Town Council are distributing the questionnaire to local interest groups and there is also a ‘live’ questionnaire available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L2GY7Q2
Once we have collated the results, we will be applying to different funding bodies to raise the money to carry out the work.
Northwich Memorial Layout drawing