Coseley war memorial in line for £6.5k revamp

Work on the new memorial, off Birmingham New Road in Coseley is to begin shortly after campaigners in the town raised £6,500 for the scheme.

It is the brainchild of Coseley resident Michael Harris, 53, who has been working for 15 months to get the project off the ground.

Originally there was no stone war memorial honouring those who lost their lives in the First World War.

Instead more than 350 trees were planted along the Birmingham New Road - one for every man killed in the conflict.

But most of those trees have now been lost.

The surviving trees were re-dedicated in 1999 and a stone tablet of Remembrance put in place.

Restoration will be carried out on the tablet as part of the work with the new memorial, which will stand upright, placed behind it.

The new memorial will measure around 5ft and have a crest on it.

It has been designed by Co-operative Memorials of Walsall.

Mr Harris said he would have liked the names of the men from the town who gave their lives in both the First and Second World Wars to have been engraved into the new memorial.

But he said the costs had proved too high - so the names have instead gone up as part of an exhibition about the memorial project being held at Coseley Library, in Castle Street.

Mr Harris has researched the names of the fallen with Matt Mills of Sedgley Local History Society - a study which took two years to complete.

Visitors will also be able to see detailed designs for the memorial and there are pictures taken during the two conflicts.

While the names will not be on the memorial the faces will decorated.

One of the faces will be engraved with the well-known lines from the Ode of Remembrance: 'At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.'

Funding for the scheme has come from the Co-op's Memorial Fund and the Community Forum, helped by councillors Clem Baugh and Melvyn Mottram.

Mr Harris said: "I put forward the scheme around 15 months ago and it has taken until now to come to fruition," he said.

"I am really pleased the work is going to be taking place soon.

"The old memorial has started to become worn and will be restored as part of the project.

"It would have been wonderful to have been able to include the names on the new memorial but it was just too expensive in the end unfortunately.

"However the names have gone up at the library so people who go to look at the exhibition will be able to see them.

"They will also be able to get a look at the new designs."

And Mr Harris is now planning a second phase to the project.

He hopes to get the memorial trees which have been lost over the years replanted.

"It is wonderful there is going to be a new war memorial and I am really looking forward to seeing the start of work," he said.

"I am now working towards getting the memorial trees restored. I would like to see all of them returned."