Members of the Royal Oak pub in Wolverhampton, and local residents including a former Mayor have been getting ready for Remembrance Day by cleaning up the local War Memorial.
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00:00As part of Remembrance, we're looking at different memorials, we're looking at the
00:04people who actually worked to clean them and maintain them and ensure that
00:08they're spic and span and ready for the Remembrance weekend. One of these is the
00:12Trinity Methodist Church War Memorial here in Chapel Ash. I'm here with the
00:16Licensee of the Royal Oak, Terry Cole, Dr. Michael Hardacre and a local resident
00:21Phil Farmer, who they all work to maintain this and clean this and look
00:25after this. So this is Terry first. Tell us a bit about the work that's done here Terry.
00:29Well for the last four or five years we've basically came down here, we've
00:34re-gravelled, it's been cleaned, the grass has been done, there's a signpost there
00:40which we've done as well which we've made really nice and clean. But we've
00:44basically looked after it, not allowed to decay because there's a lot of hard work
00:48put in by Mike to get it to where it is now and we've just kept up the good work for it.
00:52What was it like when you first saw came and saw it? First time about eight, nine
00:57years ago it was awful. It was just tired and old. Now it looks respected and you see
01:03that when the people come for the services. I think it's 70 to 80 people coming in
01:07at the last service to honour our Great War dead. Okay, well we'll come over to
01:13Michael. You've been councillor for the area and I'm assuming, I think we're saying here,
01:18that was it your ward funds that helped to renovate this? It was indeed my ward funds. I was put on to this by a
01:24colleague of yours, Peter Major, and I devoted the ward fund to getting it made safe because it needed a degree of
01:33repointing and it was then cleaned. But if it wasn't for the Royal Oak particularly
01:38and the Chindit, we wouldn't even be able to do this because they've been the
01:43people who've kept the flame alive of remembrance for the men of Compton and
01:48Chapel Ash who gave their lives in the First World War. It's a real community effort
01:52basically. Absolutely a community effort. And that's shown when we hold the service because there's people from all over, from the far side of Clark Hall all the way through, throughout the whole area of what I'll call East Compton and Chapel Ash.
02:08It's quite an important monument isn't it? It is indeed. I mean there was a beautiful church behind this many years ago, Victoria, a lovely church. This year, fortunately, the Methodist Church is supporting us by doing the religious
02:21part of the service, which they have done for the last four or five years, and the Music Hub of the Education Department is providing us with a bugle which is absolutely fantastic. So we can do the last post with proper and due reverence.
02:40And Phil, for yourself, talk about what it means to you to be able to come here and be able to help maintain this ceremony.
02:48I think it's important because we shouldn't forget. We should remember the people who gave their lives in all wars and all conflicts. Everybody, I think, has had a relative who has been touched by these kind of wars.
03:05Oh yeah, and we've got a number of people who have assisted with painting the railings here, putting out the poppies, distributing leaflets, which we've just done to everybody in the local. And that's a great effort from a dedicated little band of people.
03:26Last year, we had 50 or 60 people standing here, and that was really poignant and important to us.
03:37And one more for yourself, Terry. You were speaking about how there was a wolves game on around the same time, and there were supporters around. When the bugle went off, it all went deadly silent.
03:46Everywhere, the whole area, the whole area stops. Obviously the roads will still go, but you hear people, you see people coming out of their houses around you. But the pub is only literally, what, 200 yards, 300 yards up the road, and they could hear the bugle and everyone stops. So it just shows it's still in people's minds and still fresh. So it's a good thing.
04:16.