FIRST WORLD WAR 100: Council receives Lottery funding for war memorial

YEOVIL Town Council has received £1,930 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the Preston Plucknett War Memorial project.

Awarded through HLF’s First World War: Then and Now programme, the project is focussing on the restoration of the war memorial and involving young people carrying out research into the men named on the memorial and the village of Preston Plucknett during the First World War.

To mark the centenary of the First World War, the project will enable local people in Yeovil to come together to preserve the memories and heritage of the people who lived through it.

Following the restoration, a commemoration and rededication service was held at the war memorial on August 3, 2014, when some 100 local people attended including the Mayor of Yeovil, the Royal British Legion, and Charles Clive-Ponsonby-Fane whose great-grandfather had provided the land on which the war memorial was first erected.

Members of the Yeovil Youth Council participated in the service and one member, James Gard, read a poem that he had written especially for the occasion.

PHOTO – TOP: The commemoration and rededication on August 3, 2014, at the war memorial at Preston Plucknett.

PHOTO – RIGHT: Members of Yeovil Youth Council who took part in the ceremony – Zoe Braddick, James Gard and Natasha Dennington.

Also as part of the project the Youth Council is preparing a folder to be kept in St James’ Church, Preston Plucknett, containing their research into the men named on the war memorial.

Children from Preston Primary School are also participating in the project by researching and producing an exhibition to be displayed in St James’ Church based on what it would have been like to live in Preston Plucknett during the First World War.

As part of their research the HLF grant will fund a trip for the school children to visit the Museum of Somerset to explore the impact of the First World War on Somerset.

Since the restoration work has been carried out, a number of local people have come forward to offer information about their ancestors named on the memorial, including a local man whose great-grandfather was a stonemason and carpenter and had been responsible for crafting the war memorial in 1920.

PHOTO – RIGHT: Charles Clive-Ponsonby-Fane at the Preston Plucknett war memorial.

Cllr Andrew Kendall, chairman of the buildings and civic matters committee at Yeovil Town Council, said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and very much appreciate all the hard work of the young people of Yeovil to make this project such a success.”

Nerys Watts, head of Heritage Lottery Fund South West, said: “The impact of the First World War was far-reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond.

“Through our First World War: Then and Now programme we’ve been able to support projects large and small to mark this global Centenary, including enabling Preston Plucknett to explore and preserve the memories and legacy of their community during the conflict.”

For further details about the ceremony carried out at the war memorial at Preston Plucknett – please click on the links below.

REMEMBER THEM ALL: http://www.yeovilpress.co.uk/blog/2014/08/04/first-world-war-100-we-will-remember-them-all/.

POIGNANT SERVICE: http://www.yeovilpress.co.uk/blog/2014/08/03/first-world-war-100-re-dedication-of-war-memorial-at-preston-plucknett/.

Tags:
News.