Peterborough’s Lack Lustre War Memorial and the Season of Goodwill

Morag Irving reports..

The old District Hospital built as a War Memorial, the fascade complete with inscriptions
should be retained and proudly resited as part of Peterboroughs heritage

I will declare my interest at the outset, my Father was a Gordon Highlander (had no interest in anything military after he fought some bloody battles during WW2). He then joined and was employed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission [CWGC] war graves and watched as they have become established and matured over years.  

My Father was to work for the CWGC for most of his working life; in Belgium, France, Holland, Turkey and the UK. As a result I was born in Ieper, Belgium, ( the Tommys - British  soldiers - called it Wipers) I have seen all the CWGC War Graves, where many hundreds of thousands of an earlier generation gave their lives for us and now laid to rest in neat well tended lines. 

My mother was Belgian and taken to Munich as forced slave labour, by the Germans who occupied Belgium.

My grandfather was in the Kings Own Borderers Regiment - I still have his medals, he fought in the Turkish Gallipoli campaign in WW1.  The casualties and loss of life on both sides were both needless and horrific.

So you will understand from my experience and given the reasons above, why I will not be contributing to this particular memorial. But will choose to make a donation in another way. 

The current proposed site, sitting uneasily beside litter bins and in front of a cake shop, cafe, street restaurant and an Amusement Arcade. The War Memorial is to my mind, wholly inappropriate, as is the soliciting of childrens pocket money to build it.  I much prefer the memorial in setting of the Cathedral grounds.

I do however fully support the sleeping bags scheme and I will donate to keep those forced to sleep on the streets this freezing winter, a little warmer.  I believe the money would be better spent on the living and this is why we chose instead to run the sleeping bags appeal at the time of Remembrance Sunday and to actively support the Poppy Appeal which has raised a record breaking £90,000.

You may have read the planned War Memorial for Peterborough is due for completion in May next year. Just in time for the local council elections, but in order to do so funds need to be in place.

The fund now stands at £26k, however at least £18k of this was raised by our last Mayor Cllr Keith Sharp. So in the space of a year of planned and sustained fundraising activity, the war memorial fund has only raised a paltry or lacklustre £8k.   Another £20k is urgently needed to complete the project.

Two Councillors are on the fund raising board. The board is chaired by local councillor and cabinet member Cllr Irene Walsh, Cllr John Fox is also on the board.

Between them the two councillors sit on the boards of at least 3 Community Centres. Very surprising then from what we can discover, not one significant fund raising event has been organised in these Community Centres. 

Surely Cllr Irene Walsh could have opened a few doors though her black book she would have compiled in her time as Mayor? Instead the councillors are visiting schools and asking for donations from school children. In effect kiddies pocket money will in part, fund this memorial. 

Cllr Fox has already on some internet discussion boards waded in and publically declined an invitation to reveal if he has donated anything at all to the fund. With two Councillors under the same roof  (Mrs Fox is also a councillor) we put forward the following suggestion.

Councillors are currently each paid a generous tax free ‘allowances and expenses’ of £7,962.08 per annum. This includes a telephone allowance of £569, and £2,274 travel allowance.

Cabinet Members see their tax free ‘expenses and allowances’ rise to £14,331.90 .....

(Our figures are based on information in May 2011. If they have risen or fallen I’m sure someone will let us know).

Councillors are also paid extra tax free ‘allowances’ for sitting on committees, (so its a good idea they attend a few - no names, but the PCC does publish the attendance list, you know who we mean).

So in light of all this largesse, and if the councillors are not attending all their committee meetings but still claiming the full allowance, as if they were attending; why not ask each Councillor to donate just £500?

This would represent an immediate cash sum of at least £25k. Some councillors would legitimately not be able to contribute but others would be in a position of being able to contribute a far greater amount..

It really is a very sorry state of affairs, the glorious dead and the living both deserve so much better. It will not come as a shock to learn that a proportion of those who once served in our armed forces, often find it hard to adjust to civilian life, suffer family breakdown and often end up on the streets. Hence our support for the sleeping bag campaign.  

 
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