Hal Giblin, Bill
Carroll, Paul Spenley and David Evans have all played important
parts in chasing these Boards, and whilst the fat lady has not sung yet, we
are well on the way thanks to the efforts of these fine gentlemen, in getting
some resolution to this saga. Here is the story so far as at 25 March
2001 ...
The memorials are held by the Liverpool
Architectural and Design Trust, while they are being restored for eventual
display at LIPA. It is not clear yet who is funding this restoration work.
WW
II memorials were discovered by
Liobian David Evans (48 - 53) languishing in a junk shop which was a recognised Mecca
for memorabilia collectors, especially publicans who sought alternative
furnishings for their bars. David, who is the Secretary of the Liverpool
Scottish Regimental Association, purchased the WW II memorials, and has now
evidently handed them over to the LADT.
Well done David
Evans !
How these memorials came to be in a junk shop, and
who made any money from their removal from our school, has never been determined.
The WW II memorials
have listed 83 Liobian names who perished in WW II in any of the three
services from 1939 to 1945.
The person who wrote the letter to The Times
concerning the memorials in the junk shop, appeared on TV, and who had the
initial discussion with LIPA for the re-installation of the Memorials, and found
the whereabouts of the WW 1 memorials is Hal Giblin. Hal has carried out
the discussions with LIPA and with the Lpool Corpy to have the WW 1 memorials
restored, but has met with a lot of difficulties in achieving positive
actions. As at July 2000, the position seemed to be that the First and
Second War Memorials were in the one place - for the first time in many years.
The Second Year 'name plates' have been cleaned and are looking quite
presentable.
267 Liobians perished in the Army during the 4 year course of WW I.
Paul Spenley has all 83
Liobian names on the WW II tablets and if anybody has a query then please
contact him off the list. These WW II tablets were dedicated at the Institute on Monday
21st May 1951 which Paul attended, as did his parents, as a family who had lost a near
relative in the conflict.
With regards to
Korea,
a silence was sometimes called at the conclusion of Assembly in the early fifties for a Liobian who had been killed in Korea
- often one who had been serving the two years obligatory National Service.
Here's the latest situation as at
10 April 2001 as reported by Bill Carroll ...
Liverpool Institute War Memorials
Dave Giblin, whose diligence resulted in the rescue
of the WW2 memorial, and I met today at both the Liverpool Architectural and
Design Trust and LIPA. Also present were John Coady of LIPA and Dave Halliwell,
whose company, based at Seaforth, are experts in the field of restoration etc.
Both the WW1 And WW2 memorials are in the building.
The brass plates listing the names of those killed in action have already been
restored. Work has still to commence on the brass/bronze headers and
surrounds, most, if not all, of which also appear to be present. The whole
memorial is huge, about 10 square metres, and extremely heavy.
Before the end of April all constituent parts of the
memorial will be transferred to Dave Halliwell’s company premises. There
they will be laid out, an assessment made of the work still needed to be done
to effect full restoration, and a budget figure produced for that work and the
cost of re-erection at LIPA.
LIPA have made available for re-erection a wall of
the original building in the atrium at the north west(Mount Street/ Pilgrim
Street) corner of the building.
Dave Halliwell has offered his company’s services
at cost only i.e. no profit will be taken, while a senior officer of the
council has promised financial support from the council.
We will update, as appropriate.
Bill Carroll
10 April 2001
The War Memorials have now (April 27 2001)
been succesfully transferred to the premises of Cadgrange Ltd, 38 Sandy Road,
Seaforth. Hal Giblin and Bill Carroll held a meeting there with John
Coady of LIPA and Jon Richardson, a senior education officer from the city
council. Everything seems in order to complete restoration and re-instatement
in the Mount Street building.
The memorials were rededicated at a special
ceremony on 4th November 2001. You can download a file of pictures taken
at the ceremony from here ....
MEMORIALS.
A Series of WWW Pages Compiled and Published by John Snelson from 1996 © 