About Us:
The Campaign
Steve Williams & Lindsay Hoyle MP
launching the campaign - 23rd February
2007
Picture: Chorley Guardian
The idea for a permanent memorial
to the Chorley Pals who left the
town to fight in World War One came
from a chance meeting in early 2007
between local Historian and WW1
enthusiast, Steve Williams and the
town's Member of Parliament, Lindsay
Hoyle.
Both recognised that, nearly
90 years after the end of The Great
War, no permanent memorial existed
to the Chorley Pals in the town.
Back in 1924, Astley Hall was given
by the Tatton family to the Borough
of Chorley as a memorial to all
the men from the area who fought
and died in World War One (whilst
the Hall is now a museum and art
gallery, there is an excellent war
memorial room).
The plaque at Serre.
The last line reads: "Where
larks sing and poppies grow, they
sleep in peace for evermore".
The only memorial to the Chorley
Pals is a small plaque in the trenches
at Serre on the Somme where the
Chorley Pals went over the top for
the first time on the 1st July 1916.
That was placed there a few years
ago, although John Garwood (a local
Historian and authority on the Chorley
Pals) had placed a informal plaque
on a tree there as far back as September
1985.
In the Spring of 1990 fundraising
commenced under the auspices of
the Accrington / Gt. Harwood Branch
of Toc H for a memorial to the Accrington
Pals (11th [Service] Bn. East Lancashire
Regiment) in the trenches at Serre
- the Chorley Pals were Y Company
in the Battalion. The memorial,
made from Accrington Brick, was
dedicated at a service on the 29th
September, 1991.
A year later, The Pals Memorial
Chapel was dedicated and opened
in the Church of St. John the Evangelist,
Accrington on the 23rd February
1992 - 77 years, to the day, after
the Pals left their respective towns
in Lancashire for Caernarvon - and
eventually to their date in history
at the start of the Battle of the
Somme in 1916.
It is fitting therefore that
the 23rd February 2007 has been
chosen to launch an appeal to raise
funds for a suitable memorial to
the Chorley Pals in their home town.
On hearing the news Sister Francis,
a 91 year Nun and whose father Private
Henry Calderbank joined the Chorley
Pals in 1914, said "It is long overdue".
We hope to make the idea a reality
and invite everyone to support us.
Lindsay Hoyle MP & Steve Williams
Chorley, February 2007
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