Tribute to war dead gets new home

An eight-ton war memorial honouring soldiers who lost their lives in both world wars was on its way to a new home today.

Workers today moved in to take the 16-ft statue of a marching soldier, nicknamed Tommy, from the Territorial Army barracks at Fallings Park, Wolverhampton, to its new resting place at the Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley.

A crane lifted the statue in three separate for the journey to the museum.

The bronze figure commemorates the sacrifice of workers at the former Springfield Brewery, Wolverhampton.

It has been moved four times and enlarged once but members of the Springfield Brewery Retired Employees Association still hold a Remembrance Day service at the foot of the monument every year since it was first unveiled on March 9 1923.

The Black Country Living Museum has promised to hold an annual vigil for association members on November 9.

The £2,500 move was being financed by the Help For Heroes charity.