Thornton Cleveleys war memorial

One mile north of Millfield school and about a quarter of a mile before you get to Thornton windmill on the Fleetwood road at Four Lane Ends lies the war memorial in Thornton.The roads go to Cleveleys proper on the sea front, Thornton inland. Poulton/Blackpool and Fleetwood. There was a National Westminster bank on one of the corners, a library/theatre on the opposite side. It is a busy road! As you can see the memorial gardens are very well kept and although traffic literally pours round it - seems very quiet, maybe the trees help. The memorial was officially unveiled by Colonel Sir Hugh  Jeudwine on the 11th of November 1923 - the fifth anniversary of the Armistice. There is a link here for supplementary information.

From the back of the memorial,
looking in the general direction of Thornton. To the left lies Fleetwood and to the right Poulton.
At our backs is the road to Cleveleys.

This is the memorial in 1935, posted from Blackpool.
The real photographic postcard is by M. Miller and Co, Blackpool.
The railings are there but the strange pillar things appear to have gone...

Not sure of the location that this was photographed from,
Seems rather poorly composed, certainly never seen this shot before.

The memorial is almost in two halves. There is a slab to the right of the picture that has been placed by ICI, relating to the fallen employees of the plant for both World Wars. This slab was moved here at the closure and demolition of the Burn Naze plant.

The central memorial relates to the fallen from the Great War and the three open books commemorate the fallen from World War 2. It is indeed a heavy toll for what would have been a small village, it still is. I suspect some of the names on the ICI memorial will match the main memorial and possibly the open books too.

The names on the memorial have been added to the Datastore here.

 Here is a link to the Millfield School Roll of Honour. They also have some of the same names.

This is quite a large memorial. Approx. 6 feet in length. There does seem to some wear on it. The letters are clearly discernible but the debris from the trees does cover it. Really glad that ICI or whoever decided to move it from the Burn Haze works before it was flattened.
Here are the pictures of the ICI memorial:

The ICI Memorial.
Below are close ups

The black splodge at the top is a casting of the ICI logo of their lion

The top half of the list of the fallen from
the Great War

The lower half of the fallen

This has the 9 names from the Second World War
It's clear that this piece of stone has been added to the bottom of the existing memorial.

These are the pictures of the main memorial:

Looking from the front. The ICI memorial is to the left. It is lying down

Directly from the back

Directly from the front

Looking out of the Memorial Garden

These are the pictures of the open books surrounding the main memorial:

The 3 books inscribed with the fallen

I have to admit that the actual books "work" very well. There must have been the temptation to add them to the main memorial.

Millfield School, Thornton Cleveleys.

I very nearly became a teacher at Millfield School. The actual interview was one of the first "proper" interviews I ever had. However not to be. Little did I know that 20 years on I would be back. I gatecrashed the unveiling ceremony. Almost no-one knew who I was, certainly not the civic dignitaries that were there. In fact I may have been the ONLY person there who was not specifically invited.  There was a 1 inch column in a corner of our local paper, the "Evening Gazette" announcing that this memorial had been found, restored, and rededicated. Couldn't resist. There was a considerably larger article in the Gazette later.

Blackpool Evening Gazette article

I am in big danger of standing on toes here because I believe one of  the members from Thornton Cleveleys Rotarians is working on a history of the three memorials in this close knit community. I have much to thank Tom Williams for. Information freely given - but of course he retains the copywrite.

I am not sure that he was aware that I have now recorded and photographed quite a few of these memorials - and perhaps he was unaware that this would end up on the internet. The memorial at Four Lane Ends has now been published too. I suspect that there will be names that are on both memorials.

 My purpose has never been to repeat verbatim what is already on the internet, but to try and give information and photographs to people researching their past. A starting point perhaps. Thornton has a fascinating history. There is much photography to be done. It has an everchanging urban landscape.
These are my photographs of the small yet quite poignant event at the end of what seemed like a normal school day.

About to be unveiled

Sean Bullen(Head), Tom Williams, Dr Harry Pindred(Chairman of Governors)
North Fylde Rotary Club President - Karol Bialwas

The head teacher -Sean Bullen

The roll of honour in place in the main hall of the school

The Roll of Honour

This miniature plaque is now in place
beneath the Roll of Honour

 Amongst the papers given me on this evening was a transcript of the original speech given by Brig-General Gator, published in the in the "Fleetwood Chronical, Fylde News and Advertiser" Friday the 9th of July 1920. Again I feel copywrite may well still be an issue - even though the paper is now defunct.  I do not believe this speech is on the internet. It seems from research that Brig-Gen Gator was in charge of the artillery Ordnance) at the assault of Sevastopol. (This was the only reference to him on the internet). However this link provides a good overview of the battle itself. This blogpage is still in development. Information is forwarded to the National Inventory of War Memorials.I took other photographs from the schools history and I have placed them in this link here in the Datastore.