Slide of Washington War Memorial 100th anniversary of unveiling

#MayorOfSunderland Slides for 100th anniversary of Washington War Memorial speech

Speech transcript - Hello, my name is Cllr David Snowdon, Mayor of Sunderland.
 
On Sunday 7 June Holy Trinity Church in Washington Village would have been hosting a special service and a wreath laying ceremony at the Washington and Barmston War Memorial in The Village to celebrate the war memorial’s 100th Anniversary. Sadly those plans had to be cancelled due to the COVID crisis.
 
Whilst we cannot come together in person to celebrate this important anniversary, I would like to ask you to take a minute of your day this weekend to remember the 297 local people who gave their lives fighting for their country – and to remember and pay tribute to the men and women who worked so hard to raise the funds needed for this memorial between 1916 and 1919 this was a true community effort.
 
Washington history society have helped me gather so historical facts about this memorial.

100 years ago, today, on Saturday 5 June 1920, the Washington and Barmston War Memorial was unveiled by Lord Lambton, the Earl of Durham who was a serving officer of the Durham Light Infantry.
 The memorial was initially inscribed with names of 179 casualties with another 6 names of WW1 casualties being added not long after.

Over time the memorial has sadly had names of more casualties inscribed on it.  101 people taken during WW2, 2 during the Falklands war, 2 from the Gulf War and 7 from the Afghanistan war – current day there is a total of 297 names engraved on this War Memorial.

I am sure as we see lockdown restrictions being lifted over the coming months, Washington community will once again be able to come together and mark occasions like this with decorum they deserve.

Lest we forget.

unveiling