Memorial will be fitting tribute to all our troops (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Memorial will be fitting tribute to all our troops

11:10am Sunday 21st March 2010

By Richard Vernalls »

A NEW war memorial to the county’s fallen heroes could be a step closer after a meeting.

A Worcestershire County Council working party has been set up to look at installing at County Hall in Spetchley Road, Worcester, a book of commemoration with a plaque listing the names of dead Worcestershire servicemen and women.

Coun Alan Amos, who represents the Gorse Hill and Warndon division, raised the idea at a council meeting earlier this year.

Initially, it was proposed that the memorial would honour the county’s dead since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, however the possibility of including all of Worcestershire’s fallen troops since the end of the Second World War is now being mooted.

One possible location for the memorial is in the main reception at County Hall.

Coun Amos met the county’s main political group leaders, including Coun George Lord (Conservative), Coun Liz Tucker (Liberal Democrats) and Coun Jim Parish (Independent Community and Health Concern and Residents Group) and chief executive Trish Haines last Monday to further discuss the proposal.

Following that meeting, a working group with representatives from all political parties has been set up, supervised by the county council’s corporate services department.

Coun Amos said: “The group’s task is to discuss and work out the details to have a plaque and a book.

“We’re at the stage now where it’s gone beyond just looking at the feasibility.

“The people of Worcestershire and the troops will benefit and it’s about time we got on with it.”

No date has yet been set for the group’s first meeting.

Jeff King, county chairman of the Royal British Legion, said: “This is a wonderful idea because nothing similar already exists. It keeps the names and the deeds of our servicemen and women alive.”