The Banstead Image Library
Banstead War Memorial - unanswered questions
The Banstead War Memorial was unveiled in June 1921 and I am preparing a publication to mark the anniversary. Can anyone help with answers to the following?
1. The schoolchildren from the village school were assigned the responsibility to keep the memorial clean and tidy. Does anyone actually remember doing this or know of someone who did?
2. In 1921 the names were all engraved on the smaller top panels but at some point they have been moved to the lower two panels. Does anyone have any information as to when this took place?
3. We can find no record of the WWII names being added and the memorial being rededicated. Can anyone tell us about this?
If you have any kind of story associated with the memorial, or perhaps old photographs do please respond below.
UPDATE FROM LNW: I now have the answers and they will be in a book called Banstead War Memorial - 100 Years, to be published hopefully in May in the lead up to the 100th anniversary if its unveiling. It will include numerous photos of how the area around it has changed in the last 100 years and even longer.
Picture added on 11 January 2021 at 11:31
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Unfortunately I can add nothing to the request for information relating to the War Memorial. I can however share some memories with regard to the earlier position of the War Memorial and the double decked buses using it as a round about to enter the bottom of the high street and of course having to navigate the tight ninety degree bend leading on to Sutton Lane. Any servicing or maintenance on the plinth of the War Memorial would prove challenging with regard to the very close proximity of traffic. Looking at the image of the large tree on the left; this was on a bank about two feet higher than the footpath and the bus stop was just about in line with the tree. The image suggests that the bus stop is further up the road towards the Police Station. Also from the position of the image you would have seen the wooden bench on the right hand side where raised beds with roses had been laid out. The Woolpack was our local and I played several seasons of Sunday League football for them before moving down to Bournemouth. My earliest memory of the Woolpack was the remnants of the old building after it had been bomb damaged...with my childhood memory of benches outside and old men sitting drinking ale! Later that memory was superseded with city gentlemen alighting the bus, returning from town complete with bowler hats, brollies etc. and making a ‘B’ line to the saloon bar before presumably being reunited with their nearest and dearest.
Added by Peter Wells on 05 April 2021
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