Community comes together to remember the fallen

A community-wide project to uncover the stories behind the names engraved on war memorials at seven local sites in the village of Cradley, West Midlands, will go ahead thanks to a grant of £9,600 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Black Country-based Midland Film and Art will be recruiting hundreds of local volunteers of all ages to create the Cradley Memorials Heritage Trail based around St Peter’s churchyard and other memorials sites spread around the locality.

Community groups, schools, ex-service personnel, artists, writers, historians, teachers and local people are all being asked to get involved and help create a comprehensive account of the memorials covering not only World Wars One and Two, but also the Boer War.

A recent clearing of overgrowth in St Peter’s Churchyard revealed military graves and memorials that had been hidden for decades. Most of these are not recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.