By Chorley Pals Memorial on Sunday 14th November 2010  Lindsay Hoyle lays a wreath at the memorial on Remembrance Sunday After the Service of Remembrance at Chorley Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, a simple ceremony took place an hour later at the Pals Memorial.
Wreaths were laid by Lindsay Hoyle MP as Chairman of the Chorley Pals Memorial, Captain A. Beaver from the Territorial Army and a representative of the Chorley branch of the Royal British Legion.
Family members of Chorley Pals joined Trustees Steve Williams and John Garwood, local Councillors, former service personnel and members of the public to witness the five minute informal ceremony.
A similar ceremony is planned for 7.30 a.m. on Friday, 1st July 2011 – the 95th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.
 The wreaths laid at the base of the statue
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Sunday 14th November 2010 Trustees launched their new ‘Chorley Remembers’ project with a walk from the Pals Memorial to Astley Hall on Friday, 15th October.
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, full details of the two year project can be found on a new website www.chorleyremembers.org.uk, to be launched shortly.
 Pals Memorial Chairman Lindsay Hoyle MP and members of the public set off on walk to launch new ‘Chorley Remembers’ project.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Wednesday 27th October 2010 Chorley Pals Secretary and WW1 historian Steve Williams is presenting a talk entitled ‘Lest we forget – the men from Brindle, Clayton-le-Woods & Whittle-le-Woods who fought in the First World War’.
The talk is at Clayton Green Library, near Chorley and is part of the recently launched Chorley Remembers project, aimed at people wanting to learn more about the sacrifice of local men and perhaps research their own family’s involvement.
Admission is free to the talk which starts at 7.30 p.m., on Tuesday, 9th November, however tickets should be obtained in advance from the Library on 01772 321820 or e-mail: clayton-green.library@lancashire.gov.uk.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Thursday 7th October 2010 
Eight months after unveiling the memorial to the Chorley Pals in the town, the charity are set to launch a major heritage project across the Borough.
 The Chorley Pals Memorial The official launch of the project will be on Friday, 15th October with a walk from the Chorley Pals Memorial on the town’s Flat Iron Market, down to Astley Hall. The walk mirrors the launch of the Chorley Pals Memorial appeal on the 23rd February 2007 which eventually led to over £107,000 being raised for the statue that was unveiled in the town three years later.
Starting at 12.00 noon, and led by Lindsay Hoyle, it will head for Astley Hall through Astley Park, passing the Cenotaph along the way. At 1.00 p.m. in the Hall there will be presentations by Lindsay Hoyle, local historian Steve Williams (who devised the project) and full-time Project Manager, Nikki Davidson-Kerr who will outline the project and how local companies, organisations and individuals can get involved.
The project needs to raise some £17,500 as matched funding but Trustees are confident that it will be raised in the next twelve months. The project has already received financial support from the Chorley Building Society, who have also provided office facilities for the project at their Head Office in the town.
A major feature of the two-year remembrance themed project will be researching and placing the names of the fallen from Chorley onto the town’s Cenotaph in Astley Park – something that did not happen when it was unveiled in 1924. Once initial research has been completed, an application will be made to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a further £250,000 to complete the project which will include work on preserving the 1914 -1918 Memorial Arch at the entrance to the park, improving access and interpretation around the Chorley Pals memorial site, and upgrading facilities at Astley Hall where the small memorial room only features the First World War.
The project aims to encourage individuals to research their own family’s involvement in conflicts over the years, as well as assisting groups, churches or surrounding villages with research into their military connections. The initial funding will allow the staging of talks, workshops and exhibitions, as well as creating a new website; second round funding will provide an education / teaching resource pack for the 56 primary and secondary schools across the Borough and create a heritage trail linking the major remembrance sites in the town.
 The Cenotaph in Astley Park There are plans to have a ‘Chorley Remembers Day’ in Astley Park during July 2011, to publish a book about the men and women from the town who died in conflicts from the Boer War to modern times, as well as recording people’s memories on video and audio formats.
The project also hopes to encourage former workers of the Royal Ordnance Factory in Euxton, a suburb of Chorley, to record their memories of working at the munitions factory during the Second World War and beyond.
Commenting on the launch of the project, Lindsay Hoyle said “I cordially invite everyone to join me on the 15th. I said at the Pals Memorial unveiling in February that our work will continue and we are pleased to keep that promise. The Pals statue created so much interest in the town and I know this new project will capitalise on that interest and put Chorley to the forefront in understanding and preserving its heritage”.
Echoing those sentiments, Project Manager and Chorley resident Nikki Davidson-Kerr said “We want more people in the town, young and old, to have a greater understanding what local men and women, and their families, went through in the numerous conflicts over the years. This new heritage project will enable them to find out more and, importantly, encourage them to get involved in learning about the town’s social and military history”.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Tuesday 5th October 2010  Steve & John with certificate Chorley Pals Trustees, Steve Williams and John Garwood, collected awards from the Chorley Civic Society at a ceremony in the Town Hall on the 30th September.
The memorial received an award, as did Steve and John’s book about the Chorley Pals.
 Steve & John present their book to Simon Wellerd (third left) watched by Civic Society members The ceremony was conducted by local Civic Society Chairman, Simon Wellerd, and the certificates were presented by the Mayor, Councillor Ken Ball.
After the ceremony the two authors presented a signed copy of their book to the Society, watched by members and volunteers.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Sunday 26th September 2010  The work of the Chorley Pals charity has been recognised by Chorley Civic Society.
We have been awarded a certificate for the memorial whilst Trustees and local historians, John Garwood and Steve Williams, have been recognised for their book ‘Chorley Pals’.
Trustees will be presented with certificates at an awards ceremony in the Town Hall on Thursday, 30th September.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Tuesday 24th August 2010  Cpl. Gilbert Stringfellow MM Details and a photograph of a Chorley Pal who fought on the Somme battlefield have been sent from Australia, courtesy of the internet.
His details were spotted on our website by his grandson, 57 year old Peter Stringfellow in Melbourne, who forwarded a photograph of him from 1915.
Corporal Gilbert Stringfellow was wounded at Serre on the 1st July 1916 with the Chorley Pals, and won a Military Medal on Easter Monday 1917 for single-handedly capturing nine Germans at Feuchy, near Arras in northern France.
The Chorley born solider was a miner at Chorley Colliery and lived on Moor Road, before joining the Pals; he worshipped at St. George’s Church. He didn’t return to live in Chorley after the war, marrying a girl from Gt. Yarmouth in 1918 and raising a family of five in the nearby Caister-on-Sea.
His page under our A – Z section has updated accordingly.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Sunday 8th August 2010 The Chorley Pals Memorial have appointed Nikki Davidson-Kerr as full-time Project Manager for their ‘Chorley Remembers’ project, to be officially launched at the end of the month.
 Lindsay Hoyle and Steve Williams with new Project Manager Nikki Davidson-Kerr Mrs. Kerr lives on Astley Village and has experience of similar Lottery projects, having worked with The Wildlife Trust in two spells since 2002. A Honours Graduate from the University of Salford, she also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, something the Chorley Pals Trustees feel will be invaluable when dealing with local schools and the educational side of the two year project.
Mrs. Davidson-Kerr starts work on the 16th August and will be based from the Chorley Building Society Head Office in Chorley, developing the Heritage Lottery funded project with a remembrance theme.
The Chorley Pals Memorial were at the Lancashire Family History event at Astley Hall last Saturday, where Mrs. Davidson-Kerr had the opportunity to meet a groups and individuals keen to be involved in the project. Commenting on the appointment, Chairman of the Chorley Pals Memorial, Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, said “we are delighted that Nikki is to manage the project which will have benefits across the whole of the Borough”, a sentiment echoed by Chorley Pals Memorial Co-Founder, Steve Williams, who devised and wrote the successful funding application.
A new website, www.chorleyremembers.org.uk will go online shortly.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Thursday 1st July 2010  Steve Williams leads the ceremony to remember the Chorley Pals who went over the top exactly 94 years ago. As the Town Hall clock struck 7.30am, a wreath was laid at the base of the Chorley Pals Memorial to remember the men from Chorley who went over the top at the start of the Battle of the Somme exactly 94 years ago.
Chorley Pals Memorial Secretary Steve Williams led a short ceremony attended by people from Chorley, relatives of the Chorley Pals and representatives of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, where the Last Post was sounded and prayers said.
The statue was erected in February this year as a permanent memorial to the 222 soldiers of the Chorley Pals – Y Company, 11th (Service) Battalion East Lancashire Regiment who served during World War One.
More pictures of the ceremony can be found on our new Flickr page.
By Chorley Pals Memorial on Wednesday 9th June 2010 In response to demand, Pals Memorial Secretary & WW1 historian, Steve Williams, has organised a short coach trip to the Somme battlefield over the late May Bank Holiday next year.
The four day trip from Lancashire will visit all the major sites and memorials on the Somme, including the front-line trenches held by the Chorley Pals near the village of Serre during 1916.
A PDF brochure about the trip, including details on how to book a place, can be downloaded here.
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