In the Great War of 1914-1918 North Marston lost 24 men. To put this in perspective, this was more than the combined totals of Whitchurch and Oving. In one stroke, an entire generation didn’t come home and it cast a long shadow over the village for many years afterwards.
These young men would have known each other, and many would have been at school and grown up together. For a small village of barely 600 people to lose 24 young men was a tragedy of huge proportions…..it was equivalent to the loss of 10% of men of working age.
These losses would have ripped the heart out of most village families. Every one of them was either a son, a husband, a father, an uncle a brother or a friend. When these families recovered sufficiently from the searing impact of grief, they then worked towards creating a fitting memorial to their loved ones. Through their endeavours the Memorial Hall was commissioned and built entirely with voluntary donations.
It’s now 110 years since the end of the Great War and the scale of this tragedy has slipped beyond living memory. As it fades in the rear-view mirror it would be easy to erase these 24 men from our collective history.
Yet, although we have a Memorial Hall, it is an abstract representation and for today’s youngsters in particular something more graphic is needed to illustrate the sacrifices made on their behalf by the young men of their village. These sacrifices are not diminished by the passage of time.
The North Marston History Club, working with others, decided that a timely and appropriate memorial would be two wall plaques mounted on the outside of the Memorial Hall. Everyone, young and old, could then be reminded that these young men were real people with real lives, and names that still resonate in the village to this day.
As with the public funding of the Memorial Hall 100 years ago we decided to launch an appeal. Our vision was that at the 2024 Remembrance Day service, attended by Beavers, Cubs, Brownies, Scouts and Guides as well as other residents and organisations of the village, we would be able to lay wreaths and demonstrate our gratitude to these men in front of something tangible: plaques bearing their names and adding a focus to their collective sacrifice.
It is also important to remember that in addition to the horrifying losses during the Great War of 1914-18, other men have died as a result of conflict, not least the six young airmen who lost their lives when their bomber crashed in the village in 1945. The second plaque will be dedicated to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Second World War and later.
With the help of local businessman Neil Tuckett, we identified a foundry in Scotland that would be able to cast the bronze plaques to Sue Chaplin’s layout. With VAT, this was going to cost about £6,000, so with this in mind, the History Club headed a fund-raising initiative
Donations
The History Club set aside £1000 (£800 from our own funds and a £200 bequest from the late Janet Long) and to this was added £500 from Neil Tuckett.
The History Club was then grateful to The Shop for donating £500 towards our war memorial plaque appeal. As you may know, from time to time The Shop allocates a proportion of its end of year profits to specific community projects. The Shop Management Committee decided the North Marston War Memorial appeal was a worthwhile objective
The History Club was thrilled then to be given £500 towards the War Memorial plaques by MADS (Marston Amateur Dramatic Society) which took us another big step towards the funding we needed for the plaques.
We were also thrilled to have been a given a donation of £1,000 by the Trustees of The Clocklands and Poors Piece Trust. Thank you Trustees for your generous gift towards our target.
Finally, we were incredibly grateful to the Winslow and Surrounding Villages Community Board for confirming a “matched grant” of £2,500 which meant we then had enough funding to order the plaques from the Foundry. The plaques arrived in the village, the cost of the courier having been funded from part of a £300 grant from the parish council. Neil Tuckett then co-ordinated them being skilfully fitted to the outside wall of the Memorial Hall by local craftsman James Tattam.
The History Club honours a 100 year old commitment.
Club co-chairman David Bayly drafted a press release detailing the event. You can read his article here.
The plaques unveiled The plaques were formally unveiled at the village Remembrance Service on Sunday 10th November 2024 by the Venerable Guy Elsmore, Archdeacon of Buckingham (see picture below) following a moving speech by Sue Chaplin, the History Club’s Secretary and co-chairman which you can read here.
Picture used with thanks to Poppet Johnson Photography