---

War Memorials

I am glad that I accepted the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, in which he illustrated beautifully the way in which memorials are under threat. They are not all in listed buildings; in fact, three memorials in my local party office have been saved—if we had not done that, I dread to think where they might have gone. Luckily, some others have gone into local archives, for example. People just think of the main, free-standing memorials, and often forget that in many public buildings—schools, hospitals, fire stations and post offices—there were memorials to many other people who signed up, perhaps in the pals’ battalions, in the first world war. They are very telling memorials, and we must not let them be destroyed or neglected. Knowing that I had secured this debate—and also because we are approaching the launch of the annual poppy appeal—on Friday I tabled early-day motion 2070. Many Members have already signed it, and I want to read it out as it summarises my emotions about this issue:""That this House praises the British Legion’s Roll of Honour, English Heritage, Historic Scotland, the War Memorials Trust, the Imperial War Museum and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for their work dedicated to commemorating those who have died as a result of conflict and to preserving war memorials in the UK and abroad; calls upon the Government to ""examine ways of assisting communities to preserve and restore the UK’s war memorials and rolls of honour in advance of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914; and further calls on the Government to establish a national code of practice to protect war memorials from destruction, and to have a national day of commemoration on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War."" All the organisations I mention, such as the War Memorials Trust, do tremendous work. There is now a national inventory of war memorials, but it has only two full-time members of staff, although it has many volunteers. We have five years before there will be a lot of services of remembrance not only here, but throughout Europe and America, as well as in Australia and New Zealand because of the Anzac forces. We must do our bit. We must ensure that all our memorials are brought up to scratch in advance of that 100th anniversary. Five years seems a long way off, but I know that if we do not start doing something now, and if there is not a co-ordinated approach, some of the neglected memorials will remain neglected.