REDDITCH is to mark the 100th anniversary of the memorial cross outside St Stephen’s Church in a special ceremony.
The cross, which bears the names of all local residents who died while serving their country in two world wars and conflicts, was first dedicated on April 2, 1922.
Philip Jarvis, president of Redditch Royal British Legion, said: “My own father, Kenneth Baylis Jarvis, was a veteran of the First World War and back then was himself a member of the Royal British Legion.
“He would have been 26 then and I’m sure he would have played a part in organising the dedication of the cross.”
At midday on Saturday, April 2, in a short ceremony, the memorial cross will be re-dedicated by town centre chaplain and vicar of St Stephen’s Canon Rev Paul Lawlor.
“Everyone is welcome to come along and be there on the day,” said Philip.
“It will only be for about 10 minutes, quarter of an hour, but we felt it was important to mark the 100th anniversary of the memorial cross.”
The town’s fallen of the First World War were first remembered on a memorial inside St Stephen’s Church.
There names were later transferred to the memorial cross.
It would be another three years, in 1925, that the Redditch war memorial was dedicated in the Peace Garden off Plymouth Road.
