Remembering our fallen for generations to come

Jim McMahon, Oldham Council Leader, on an inspection visit to the War Memorial at Pots and Pans with Councillor Adrian Alexander (Saddleworth West and Lees).

WAR memorials throughout Oldham are to benefit from timely investment as Remembrance Day approaches.

Oldham Council has approved £50,000 for improvement work — which has already started at several sites and will continue in the coming months.

The Pots and Pans memorial, which towers above Saddleworth, and Bardsley’s site will see improved access.

The inscriptions at Lees, Waterhead, Greenacres, Austerlands and St Chadds in Uppermill will be recut and reblacked.

The angel figurine at Failsworth is also to be regilded, and the paving around the Oldham war memorial is to be repointed.

Council leader Jim McMahon said: “Council staff do an outstanding job with the general day-to-day maintenance of these memorial sites — like clearing weeds and litter, removing moss and graffiti — but it was clear more investment was needed

“These works are now getting under way and will take time but, with Remembrance Sunday almost upon us, it’s important that we make our commitment clear to secure the long-term future of these memorials for generations to come.”

Refurbishment projects have already been undertaken on some of the 16 memorial sites in the borough with the support of local district partnerships and parish council funding.

Money has been pumped into Failsworth’s memorial gardens, Royton Park, Austerlands, Chadderton Town Hall, St Margaret’s at Hollinwood and the South African War memorial at Shaw Memorial Gardens.