Pro
Patria, 1914-1918, 1939-1945 Dedication of the
New War Memorial
Shortly,
after noon in the school hall, the congregation
assembled. Many had attended the traditional
service in the Psrish Church whilst others had
travelled to Prescot from their distant homes
with but one purpose in mind. To the sound of
gentle music, the crowd steadily grew until all
seats were occupied The school choir entered,
followed by two pupils who would assist in
leading the prayer.s Then came the Town Mayor of
Prescot, members of the governing bodies, the
Head Teacher and a number of clergy who included
two Old Prescotians. the Rev Harold Bishop and
the Rt Rev John Waine. The standards of three
ex-Service organisations were presented and laid
near the table upon which rested the rnmemorial
plaque under its veil of a union flag. Alongside
it was a tasteful floral decoration and the
historic Prescot Grammar School coat of arms.
Unfortunately
it had not been possible for the organisers to
contact the families of all who had died;
neverthless the gathering included more than
thirty of their relatives. Of the earlier
generation, a bereaved mother in her nineties was
among them.
The address
was given by an Old Boy of the School, the Rev.
Harold Bishop (1932 -1937) who referred to the
cost of war in human terms. Those who sacrificed
their lives were the flower of manhood whose
brilliant futures lay before them. He referred to
the pain experienced by their families. Pain,
which though probably now softened by the passage
of half a century, still remained as scars that
would never completely heal; nor would the
sadness of those of us who had lost an old school
friends vanish altogether.We were encouraged to
ask ourselves what we had done with the freedom
that had been won for us and Harold concluded by
reminding the present pupils of the School that
it was for them, with the foresight and strength
of youth, to bring about that for which former
pupils had sacrificed their lives.
The
memorial tablet was unveiled by Gary Cheesman,
Chairman of Governors, after which Harold
performed the Act of Dedication. The names of the
fallen were read by one of their schoolfellows.
The Town Mayor, Cllr Eric Jones, JR., laid a
wreath of Flanders poppies and a passage from
Revelation Ch. 21 was read by the Headteacher,
Peter Barlow. The hymns were led by the school
choir who also performed a rendering of 'Make me
a channel of Your peace.' Prayers of intercession
were led by the Rev. Tom Steel, Vicar of Prescot
and Chairman of the Foundation Governors, and by
two pupils, Gillian Ledgerton and Michael Taylor.
The Rev. Frank Naylor, Deputy Headteacher said
the traditional school prayer which was used
during the 1930s and 40s. The Blessing was
pronounced by Bishop John Waine.
Afterwards,
the congregation was entertained to light
refreshments and no doubt reminisced with friends
of years past, it was unfortunate and very
disappointing that those who had led the service
hurried away to their private VIP reception
upstairs instead of availing themselves of the
opportunity to speak to the relatives who had
looked forward to meeting them.
The heavy
tablet of solid bronze, engraved with the names
of sixty-three Old Prescotians has been provided
by their schoolfellows with additonal donations
from families and friends. The incised letters
are filled with ceramic enamel the upper corners
of the panel bearing the two coats of arms
associated with the school, on the left is that
of King's Cllege, Cambridge and on the right the
arms granted by the College of Heralds to the
School in 1933. The Fellows of King's College had
been Lords of the Manor of Prescot at the time of
the foundation of the school. Their arms are
still used by the Town. The two shields which are
of sterling silver are finely enamelled in full
colour and kiln-fired to giaze. It is said that,
were there to be another conflagration, the
memorial plaque could be the only survivor!
Mention is
made elsewhere of the establishment of a memorial
prize fund from letters received to connection
with the War Memorial.
'My father
was Owen S Whitaker and was a pupil at the
Grammar School from 1909-12. He was a soldier in
the First World War and I know that he was at
Passchendaele. I can remember him talking of the
time he was moving back from the front line along
the trenches and passing Tom Gleave (whose name
is on the PGS memorial) who was moving up to the
front line where helost his life. My father said
that 'Old Mr Gleave' always made a fuss of him
after that because he was the last 'local' to see
his son alive.'
'I would
like to say that I thought it was very caring of
the members to provide a new War Memorial. I have
written to Mr Asbridge enclosing a donation.
Thank you to the committee from the family for
the invitation to the dedication and for all the
hard work and the donations to provide the
memorial. It was a lovely service and so nice to
meet people we hadn't seen for a long time. I had
a letter from my neice in Scotland who said that
she thoroughly enjoyed it too.'
'I very
much enjoyed the Founder's Day Service and the
service for the unveiling of the war memorial. It
was good to be able to talk to some of my late
brother's contemporaries and I very much fell
that I was representing my mother who never
really recovered from his death.'
'It was
touching to see two middle-aged ladies in tears
as they looked at their brother's name'
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