Cross Roads gets a new(-ish) war memorial!
Men of Worth Director Ian Walkden left no stone unturned in his search for the old memorial which we only knew about from a rather fuzzy photograph in an album in Keighley Library:
This album records most of the local war memorials, and we understand that a lot of the photographs were supplied by Mr P.D. Lodge whom we know has done a tremendous amount of work in this regard, he should be recognised for his efforts.
A couple of years ago one of the library staff members contacted Ian saying they had found the lost photographs! Apparently the memorial was damaged and fell to pieces but someone had the foresight to save the photographs and label them up with the names of the men pictured. They were discovered in a box during archiving work in the library.
On Saturday 8th January 2017, in a short ceremony at M. J. Framing in Keighley, the re-created memorial was presented to Councillor Tito Arana (Haworth Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council) who is also Chairman of The Friends of Cross Roads Park and he agreed to become temporary custodian of the new memorial.
After obtaining relevant permissions, the memorial was installed, and in a special ceremony, it was unveiled on Saturday 11th February 2017 in the Bowling Club/War Memorial building in Cross Roads park. This was reported in the Keighley News and on their website.
Tito thanked those who helped with the project, including staff at Keighley Library, Robert Riley of R & J joiners for building the frame, M. J. Framing in Keighley for doing the hard work of putting it all together and finally, Sheila Butler for her wonderful calligraphy work.
He also said: “May I say from the bottom of my heart that I thank them for bringing this wonderful replica back to the village that these lads chose to fight for and helping ensure their faces will be remembered for many generations to come. As a village we are truly honoured and we can now see the faces of some of the men that feature upon our main war memorial.”
The new memorial will now be recorded for posterity with the Imperial War Museum, who hold a National Inventory of all war memorials.
Acknowledgements
Caroline Brown.
Gina Birdsall.
Simon Rourke.
Robert Riley of R & J Riley Joiners.
Manny and Julie of M.J. Framing.
Sheila Butler.
Tito Arana.
The Friends of Cross Roads Park.
Information sources
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
Keighley Library Archives.
Imperial War Museum.
Ian Walkden.
P.D. Lodge.
Digital photo restoration by Andy Wade.
