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Originally Posted by accystanmac
oh dear i would of though someone would of suggested this before me but historically speaking that launched this town, the strength, determination & most of all courage 'lest we not forget them' The Accrington Pals to be hounorably be a a huge feature in our town pride & place.
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Ok, this will put some people's backs up, but I think it is a question worth asking? Exactly how many public memorials to the Pal's Battalion and the dead of the First World War do you think is enough? Every Town in the borough has at least one, Accrington has two! Most churches of that date have one, as do schools and hospitals and other public buildings.
I would in no way wish to diminish the memory of those who gave their lives but, when is enough, enough?
There must be very few people still left alive in the borough who lived through and can recall the events of WWI and the tremendous sorrow and loss felt by the people left behind. In Accrington, the people demanded a fine public monument as a focus for their grief and as an imperishable monument of personal sacrifice on such an awful scale. But the people for whom the Oak Hill Cenotaph was a vital part of the process of grieving are now, mostly, gone to their graves. The monument remains, as it was intended to, as a reminder of a defining moment in history, both for the town and the country. In it's stark simplicity it is rich in symbolic associations which call to mind the nature of the sacrifices it memorialises.
More than this, it strikes me, is merely mawkish sentimentality which risks turning what many consider fine and noble deeds into merely a side-show of history. Relatives and friends raised the Oak Hill Cenotaph to be the town's collective monument to the fallen. It speaks quietly and simply, as Accrington folk do, to the heart, where memories are properly kept. And for those of us who keep those memories alive there need be no other monument.