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Thatcham War Memorial restored to former glory to honour town’s fallen




A 105-year-old community war memorial has been restored.

Works to remove decades of grime and pollution from Thatcham War Memorial, located close to the Bath Road, have been completed.

Ian Borland, Simon Gibbins, Memorial Foundation Vice Chairman Nick Cornish and Memorial Foundation Chairman Nathan Gregory
Ian Borland, Simon Gibbins, Memorial Foundation Vice Chairman Nick Cornish and Memorial Foundation Chairman Nathan Gregory

Trustees and veterans gathered to inspect the finished works on Thursday, October 24, completed by Simon Gibbins of Infinite Memorial Maintenance, based in Basingstoke.

“It looks amazing,” said Ian Borland, vice chairman of the Thatcham branch of the Royal British Legion.

“It’s positively glowing now, and who would have thought it was really that colour.

Simon Gibbins applying black gloss to the engraved names
Simon Gibbins applying black gloss to the engraved names

“I am so pleased the works were completed in time for Remembrance.”

Mr Gibbins first applied a few coats of a special solution to the monument, before giving all of engraved names a lick of black gloss.

The restoration cost £1,500 in total, which also included pressure washing the pavement, painting the railings and replanting the memorial garden.

It was funded through Thatcham Memorial Foundation’s fundraising activities.

The War Memorial before the restoration
The War Memorial before the restoration

Foundation chairman Nathan Gregory said: “It has been a long process identifying the material of the structure.

“We are grateful to Simon’s expertise and his work really has shown the monument in a different light.

The War Memorial after the restoration
The War Memorial after the restoration

“It is rather harrowing we now see the memorial as it was seen in 1920 when it was unveiled by the mothers, widows and daughters of those men whose sacrifice it commemorates.”

Thatcham’s war memorial takes the form of a wayside cross designed by Sir Charles Nicholson.

It is understood to be built from the same type of stone used to construct the bathing complex in Bath Spa.

The memorial was relocated to its present site from Thatcham Broadway in the 1960s and is now maintained by Thatcham Memorial Foundation.



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