Express & Star

Bid to preserve Great War memorial

An appeal has been launched to help preserve an important First World War memorial.

Published

The stained glass window carries the names of 64 men from the Langley area who were killed during the Great War and is the only memorial in the town which lists them.

But it has now been removed from its home in St Michael and All Angels Church, Causeway Green Road, Langley Green, after it was bought up and redeveloped, and is currently being stored in a garage in Smethwick.

Dr Terry Daniels, who is looking after the three-panel window, said the Langley Local History Society are now looking to raise £10,000 so it can be stored safely and displayed at its new home in the nearby Zion United Reformed Church.

Dr Daniels said: "It's the only memorial that has the names for people in Langley killed during the war on it.

"In a sense it is owned by the people of Langley who contributed to its purchase in 1920, that's what we wanted to preserve it." He added that not every man from Langley is named on the memorial, although it is not known why, but the society is planning to carry out research on every one for a book, which is planned to be displayed alongside the window when it is installed.

The group will be making an application for a Heritage Lottery Grant to fund part of the project, but would sill welcome donations towards its goal.

Once the money is raised, the three panels of the window will be separately mounted in metal frames with integral LED back-lighting, which is a professional system used by the Victoria and Albert Museum and others for displaying their stained glass. Along with the window, the memorial cross which stood outside the church is also on the move. The stone statue, which carries the words 'The glorious dead, 1914-1918, their name liveth forever more' will be rededicated in the Langley's High Street, in the grounds of the Ebenezer Wesleyan Reform Church.

Dr Daniels added: "If we want to have a remembrance service in Langley then it's in a good, central position where we can easily have a ceremony.

"It has been a bit lost at St Michael's, tucked away tot eh side of the entrance to the church, but now it will be in a prominent position."

To find out more or donate, see www.historyofoldbury.co.uk

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