UPDATE ON THE WAR MEMORIAL PROJECT
It’s been a while since we consulted all residents about creating a War Memorial for the Parish – we have been busy behind the scenes since the location was agreed by you all to be on the grassed area behind the Grazing Cow public house.
We obtained planning permission and we received several positive comments about the design that was approved.
You would think that having the location and design ready to go would mean we could move forward and appoint a fabricator to make our vision a reality and get the groundwork’s started wouldn’t you? How difficult could it be? Very difficult is the answer!
We approached a number of companies to quote for the making/installation of the Memorial and they were either prohibitive due to additional hidden costs for further CAD drawings or some didn’t want to know, and then we were let down by British Ironworks with whom we had a verbal agreement, but, with no formal contract forthcoming from them we could not proceed.
By chance we came across a company called Art Fabrications based in Nuneaton and we haven’t looked back since.
We visited their workshops last week to see what progress has been made to date and were impressed with what we saw. It is works in progress but is great to see the Memorial finally taking shape! Lots more work to be done on all the paint finishes/laser cutting etc but it’s looking good so far!
The location also proved to be problematic! Not only is it the location of the old West Centre Way that was filled in and moved to its current location, it also contains all the mains services for the area – including the biggest water main in Telford! We had to undertake surveys from all the utility suppliers and Telford & Wrekin Council to establish the feasibility of being able to locate the Memorial in the chosen location. We are pleased to report that we have been given the go-ahead by all the service providers!
Over the next few weeks you will start to see groundworks being undertaken to prepare the site ready for the Memorial to be placed at its agreed location.
We are all excited to see this legacy project finally in situ to honour those people of the Parish that gave their lives for our tomorrows – We will remember them.