An updated War Memorial for Wokingham

Since I started as a Wokingham Town Councillor one of the things I felt was missing was anSouth today interview -War Memorial accessible War Memorial. We have a war memorial, in the town hall where few people see it. I sure it was a lovely peaceful place when the names had people who remembered them, but now we are more than 100 years on from the death of the first name, what function does this memorial serve in its current location?

These War Memorials act as a reminder or a link to our past and deserve to be respected. They remind us of the sacrifices that people have made for our freedom. But, they should also pay respect to the people who have fought for those freedoms and lived to tell the tale. We have had many conflicts since the second world war, Korea, Aden, Cyprus, the Falklands, former Yugoslavia, Afganistan etc, etc. Where do we pay respect to those individuals?

So, we started a petition, which has gained some attention. With the centenary of the armistice in 2018, we have time to get something together to commemorate that date too and with Wokingham rebuilding itself in the regeneration, I can see no better time to ask for a space, where we can build something that adds to what we have.

If you’d like to see my BBC South Today video, it can be found here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XStjggct1Q

Even better, if you’d like to sign our petition and show your support, it can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/wokingham-borough-council-wokingham-public-war-memorial

Wokingham in the Great War

100 Years ago today, Britain declared war with Germany.

In the modern Wokingham, with so many new roads and neighbourhoods it can be hard to conceptulise what that meant. So, with help from Wokingham Remembers I have grabbed the image of the map of victims from around Wokingham station.

havelock

Clearly the older areas around Havelock and Barkham Road were quite strongly affected, while other roads seemed untouched – this is just because they didn’t exist in 1914.

These were all young men of Working age. Most of them had never been abroad before and didn’t have access to telephones, email or the instant information that we are used to today. Many women left behind took on roles traditionally done by men.

This isn’t just about those that died as 3/4 of those that went away, did return. But, many returned disabled and traumatised with experiences that shaped their lives forever.

However, one big thing did change from all of this. Most of the men who went to war did not have the right to vote, but by 1918 as a result of the war, this was extended to all men over the age of 21 and some women.

Out of adversity, can come great things.