After World War I, the parishioners of St Eth’s erected a memorial to the 113 glorious dead from their parish community. During World War II, the church was bombed and the memorial destroyed. For 80 years, those 113 names from World War I and the four additional names from World War II have been remembered from a sheet of paper, handed down from vicar to vicar. For 80 years these 117 men, who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy, were known only to God.
Over the last two years, we have researched the names and discovered the stories of those men; their homes, their jobs, their families. We have obtained donations to replace the memorial (and a certificate of lawful development to allow us to place it) in the Remembrance Garden at the side of the church. The garden is a place of peace and beauty, accessible at all times from Doneraile Street.
We will dedicate the new memorial in a short service at 2.30pm on Sunday 13 October. A trumpeter will play the Last Post and the Reveille and there will be a two minute silence when the flag will be lowered to half mast. The memorial will be blessed and the souls of the glorious dead commended to God. Volunteers and clergy from our community will read out the names of the fallen. Although this is a solemn occasion, the service will be of thanksgiving for the lives given and celebration that they are now remembered in perpetuity, known not only to God but to their whole local community.