Maxine shares this latest news from Newport Parish Council. Ed
Newport Parish Council is pleased to have completed a project to re-locate the Barton School World War One Memorial.
With the move of Barton Primary School to the former Downside Middle site in September came the necessity to relocate the well-loved Memorial from an internal wall.
It was agreed by local IW and Newport Parish Councillor Geoff Lumley, with the school and ‘Barton Bonehead’ Brian Greening that it should be re-located to an outside wall on the Downside site, facing out onto the local community.
It was also agreed that the Parish Council would fund and arrange the move, have the Memorial
cleaned, and procure a bespoke protective viewing case for the Memorial.
Mountjoy ‘mount for free’
Cllr Lumley subsequently secured support from Mountjoy, building contractors for the Downside refurbishment, who agreed to move and mount the Memorial for free.
After cleaning by Wight Stonemasonry, the Memorial was mounted last week and the custom made protective case then fitted around it by the designer, local joiner Carpenter Ben, from Compass Design Build. It now faces out onto Furrlongs and is lit at night.
Remembering the fallen
Cllr Lumley said,
“I was delighted to get Newport Parish Council and Mountjoy support for this project. The Memorial is an important part of the social history of Newport and my community.
“Everyone will now be able to see the Memorial as they pass and remember the many local fallen in a war that should have been, but sadly wasn’t, the war to end all wars.”
