Due to the pandemic, remembrance services up and down the country have been cancelled this year. However, this hasn’t stopped our brethren wearing poppies and laying wreaths and crosses at their nearest war memorial.
We were informed that wreaths could be laid at the war memorials at Poulton-le-Fylde and Lytham St Annes between 2 and 7 November. So, before Remembrance Sunday and on behalf of the South Fylde Group of Freemasons, Ray Pinkstone, ex Royal Marine laid a wreath at Lytham St Annes and Chris Thompson, ex Black Watch and Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, laid a wreath at Poulton-le-Fylde, each with solemn ceremony.
Ray, is a past master of Ansdell Lodge No 3607 and Chris is a past master of Landmark Lodge No 7273 represented their respective Masonic halls in laying the wreaths.
The Lytham St Annes War Memorial was designed by Thomas Smith Tait in 1923, with sculpture by Walter Marsden. It is listed as a Grade II monument for its sculptural, rarity and historical interest. It is noted for the quality of its poignant depictions of a shell-shocked soldier and a grieving widow, together with detailed chronological relies by its notable sculptor.
The erecting of Lytham St Anne’s War memorial was made possible by a gift of £10,000, donated by Lord Ashton. The memorial commemorates the fallen of Lytham St Annes, formed in 1922 by the merger of Lytham and St Annes urban district councils. It was unveiled on 12 October 1924 by Alderman Charles Critchley, whose son Burton ‘Plum’ Critchley was killed in 1918 while serving in the RAF.
The ceremony was attended by the Rt Hon Stephen Walsh (Minister for War), Maj Gen Sir Cecil Lothian Nicholson KCB CMG (whose son was killed at Arras), Lt Gen Sir Richard Butler KCB KCMG and 1,000 ex-servicemen. The unveiling was also attended by nine children of fallen servicemen, who were later presented with gold medals inscribed with the coat of arms of the borough.
The memorial is notable not only for its figures in the round, but also for the narrative depicted in bronze plaques. The plaques show a succession of scenes, from a soldier leaving his wife and child to the weary return of a group of soldiers. Also of note is that the soldiers are carrying the body of a dead comrade – as with the depiction of women, depictions of the dead are rare on war memorials.
Poulton-le-Fylde War Memorial was originally erected in Queens Square, in 1921. However, as a result of the one-way traffic system which was created around the centre of town, the memorial was moved on 1 August 1979, to its present location in the Market Square.
The memorial consists of a cross on a large four sided column with bronze plaques bearing the names of those who had fallen during the First World War. These names are preceded by the legend, ‘Love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice. To the glorious memory of the men of Poulton-le-Fylde who gave their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1919. Live thou for England we for England died’.
In additional stone at the back of the cross bares two tablets with the names of those who lost their lives during WW2. The whole is surrounded by a small cobbled area with a chain linked fence. The Market Square is also the site of other historical artefacts such as a market cross, stocks, whipping post and fish slabs from which fish were sold on markets days.
Overlooking these testaments to the history of the town proudly stands the Masonic hall, initially purchased and owned by the members of the Lodge of Fidelity No 1256, which is still the oldest lodge meeting in the building.
The histories of the lodges meeting at their hall are inextricably twined with the history of the town and those who have lived here over the years. Many brethren who have researched the history of their lodges, would have noted from the minutes taken during the two World Wars, that on numerous occasions the lodge secretaries were asked to write a letter of condolence to the families with a close connection to their lodge who had lost somebody during both wars. May we ever continue to lay our wreaths at these memorials to valour, lest we forget.