IT WAS a beautiful summer evening when hundreds of villagers came out to witness the rededication of a war memorial.
The rededication took place at St. Barnabas Church in Swanmore, on Sunday, August 4, and marked the end of a year of work to restore the memorial in the churchyard.
The work was spearheaded by Community Safety Officer Gary McCulloch.
He explained: “About a year ago, somebody said ‘It’s looking a bit tatty’, and I approached Vicar Nick (Whitehead) who led the service tonight, and his team cut back the hedge which showed that the fence was broken and rotted away.
READ MORE: Feature: Months of work in preparation for Swanmore war memorial
“So, I got a blacksmith in, he said it was a lot of money, so we raised £2,500 which was enough for the fabricating works and other things as well, and then we set about removing the old grass base, putting in a shingle covering so it matches the rest of the churchyard. We’ve also spoken with Bishop Waltham’s Men’s Shed and they will be making us troughs for the crosses at Remembrance.
“And that’s it. It was in three stages, we raised the money, we did the work and then tonight the service was the whole village – it wasn’t just the vicar it was all three services, army, navy and air force. It was the older generation, as well as the younger one.”
The event consisted of a service held inside the church, where members of the community were invited to join in with prayers and hymns, with members of the armed forces branches reading poems, with the role of honour being read by squadron leaders Jennifer Campbell-Gurry and Lorraine Hawthorn.
This was then followed by a short parade to the memorial led by the armed forces guests and members of the Swanmore Scout, Beavers and Brownie groups, where the memorial was rededicated by Mike Maunder.
Due to his efforts, Gary has now become the war grave custodian, meaning that he will look after St. Barnabas’s Commonwealth war graves along with the war memorial. He continued: “I look after them so the school children, when they do the history of the First and Second World Wars, I can give a talk to them about who these people were, where they are buried, where they died. A central point of knowledge for them.
“The service feels like the closing of a chapter, and the next chapter is educating everybody about the sacrifices made.”
Swanmore Royal British Legion member Dinah Weberstadt carried the Royal British Legion standard during the service.
She said: “I’m always honoured to carry the standard. I’m ex-service myself and I remember the amazing work they do. It is a pleasure to do it, and it was an honour to carry the standard today.
“I think the memorial is lovely, and I’m impressed with what Gary has done to build momentum and support for the project. It is great to see it all cleaned up in memory of our war dead.”
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Ex-police constable Kerry Fox gave the introduction to the service, as well as thanks at the end. He said: “Gary was the driving force, and everything today was due to his hard work and effort. I have lived and worked in the area for nearly 40 years, so it was an honour to be involved.”
Danny Chambers, MP for Winchester, was also in attendance during the service. He said: “I think it was an absolutely beautiful event, and it was an amazing summer evening.
“It really shows how this community has come together to get this done. I love when a church is a heart of a community, and this is a great representation of that. It has really brought people here together.”
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