Council to announce £150,000 for WW1 memorial restorations

Devon County Council  will be announcing that it will make available £150,000 in funding to help restore war memorials as part of a project marking the WW1 centenary.

The project called ‘Devon remembers’ will see the armed forces, councils, trade unions as well as local historians team up to help community projects to around local war memorials.

The project will initially focus on restoring the 2,000 estimated war memorials erected at the end of the First World War many of which have fallen to disrepair.

The project will also see schools across the county encourage children to reaearch names on their local memorials to get a better understanding of the war and the period.

This morning, children from Upottery Primary School where shown their local memorial by local historian Dr Todd Grey, who will gave them a brief lesson on those who gave their lives.

Dr Grey, a research fellow at University of Exeter, said: “Devon erected some 2,000 war memorials at the end of the Great War.  Each and every one is different and a reflection of the place it was created.

“Nearly one hundred years has passed and the forthcoming commemoration of the war presents us with an opportunity to look again at these monuments.

“We have become so used to seeing these that we have stopped looking but the memorials are a significant reminder of what was a very dark period in the country's history and should not be overlooked or forgotten.”

Devon County Council has said it will help by giving organisations, including town and parish councils, between £750 and £3,000 to restore memorials providing the pay a portion of the costs.

Any move to repair or make memorials clearer will be considered for funding by the council.

A bid for further funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund has also been submitted to support up to 50 individual community projects but have yet to be confirmed.

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council's Cabinet Member responsible for communities says:

"This will be a four year project, which we hope will touch every corner and every community of Devon.

"We will be inviting those responsible for the maintenance of public WW1 memorials to bid for a share of the funding available to restore them for the centenary commemoration.

"Where memorials have fallen into disrepair and there appears to be no one responsible for their upkeep, we're hopeful that the local community will rally together to organise the restoration."

WW1 affected every community in Devon with more than 11,000 people from across the county dying in the conflict.

The restoration project complements work that the Royal British Legion will be carrying out over these centenary years.  They will be encouraging schools and their pupils to work with local RBL branches to find out as much as possible about those whose names appear on the memorials.   Their research will contribute to a national project run by the Imperial War Museum.

Royal British Legion's Devon President, Ric Cheadle, says: "The Royal British Legion in Devon is delighted to be working closely with Devon County Council to ensure that  appropriate  ways of commemorating the centenary of the Great War take place involving all parts of the County and ensuring that the tremendous sacrifice made by the people of Devon is not forgotten and becomes an important record to inform and educate future generations"