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Newbury man helps to remember war dead online




Website is set up to record names on West Berkshire war memorials on the internet

THE name of every West Berkshire soldier commemorated on war memorials in the district can now be viewed online for the first time, thanks to the hard work of one Donnington man.

Phil Wood's website on West Berkshire war memorials, from the First World War to current conflicts, allows the user to search for every soldier commemorated on the hundreds of memorials in the district.

Mr Wood (pictured at the war memorial outside St Nicolas' Church, Newbury) set up the website following a request from the War Memorials Trust to West Berkshire Heritage Forum for help in identifying war memorials in West Berkshire, in particular the ownership and condition of the memorials so the Trust could undertake renovation work where necessary.

Mr Wood, a committee member of the West Berkshire Heritage Forum, said: “Because I had a large collection of photos of war memorials in the district I thought it would be nice to set up a website so the public can access this information.

“There are still more trips required to visit the few parishes not yet photographed but the majority of West Berkshire's readily accessible, public war memorials are recorded on the website in some form.”

The 59-year-old retired scientist is preparing to present a case to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to recognise First World War Leckhampstead soldier, Private Oliver Rosier, who is yet to be commemorated.

“Some people are commemorated in unexpected places, some are commemorated multiple times and others have not been commemorated,” Mr Wood said. “In fact, there was a First World War soldier from Chaddleworth called Jack Pearce who had survived the war but was wrongly named on the village memorial. This shows that mistakes can be made.”

Mr Wood would like to hear from anyone who has information or photos of anyone named on one of our local memorials.

To contact Mr Wood visit his website at www.westberkshirewarmemorials.org.uk

*A project has been launched by the War Memorials Trust to combat the theft of metal from war memorials.

War Memorials Trust and the SmartWater Foundation are asking for war memorial custodians to join the project and get their memorials marked free of charge with state-of-the-art crime prevention liquid.

SmartWater Foundation chairman, Sir Keith Povey, said: “As the centenary of World War One approaches we encourage communities to reconnect with their local war memorials and remember the sacrifices that so many people made for their country.”

For more information, visit the project's website at www.inmemoriam2014.org



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