Not Much to Ask War Memorial

Around the country there are war memorials in most villages and towns, and most are revered and act as reminders of what local people did for their country.

This memorial has actually stood without a statue for 50-odd years, however it now has a new recruit, created by Ray Lonsdale, who has over 30 sculptures in the region. Check out the Ray Lonsdale section on the Fabulous North Website for a few of them. He works in Weathering steel AKA as Corten Steel which gets its name from being CORrosion resistant and its TENsile strength. It has a nice patina after it has been outside for a while.

The original memorial was created from Sicilian Marble and erected in a grand unveiling in 1922.

The reason this plinth was empty is explained in an article called North East at War (featured in The Stockton and Darlington Times and The Durham Times).

'Local lore suggests that labourers working on the A1(M) between Bradbury and Bowburn in the 1960s knocked the soldier's head off with a spade during a drunken walk home. The rest of his body disappeared after it was taken away to be repaired in the 1970s'.

An Army veteran and local historian Andy Denholm has spent 20 years researching the men from the area who gave their lives in the WWI. Inspired to have the memorial re-established he mustered the community to raise funds along with the local council.

Ray Lonsdale came up with a more relaxed pose.

This memorial was unveiled in 2018 to commemorate the end of WWI a hundred years ago. The 41 lads who lost their lives, came from Bowburn, Coxhoe, East Howle, Ferryhill, Hett, Metal Bridge, Tursdale, and West Cornforth. They all worked at Tursdale Colliery.

Around the plinth are the 41 names of those who gave their life and the inscription - 'Sacred'.

Ray came up trumps with a befitting tribute and posed the soldier after he'd taken a drink from his canteen and the prose has an unfeigned plea.

Fittingly there are six Aged Mineworkers War Memorial Homes behind the memorial which were opened in 1920, and are well looked after. The soldier had a lovely lustre in the summer sun.

There is a nice hotel next door called The Old Mill, which offers meals and drinks.