Notice :- Voting is now CLOSED. Thanks to you all for voting. Fingers crossed now until the wiiners are announced.
We have been invited to the Round House in London on Saturday 4th September to be part of the live National Lottery Draw and to see who wins the actual final for each section. 10 from each group who have reached the finals have been invited. Our small group will be departing from Clitheroe on Saturday 4th September from 08.26am and returning on Sunday 5th at about 5.30pm. Hopefully with good news but whatever the result to have reached a National Final has been a wonderful project to be part of.
On Monday 9th August a Church Service and Medal presentation took place at St Mary's Church, Clitheroe which commenced at 2.30pm. This was for a Mrs Kath Brooks and Marjorie Preston who lost their brother Stanley Smith Pollard who was aged 19 and serving as a coder in the Royal Navy when he was killed in 1945 through enemy action. Stanley Smith Pollard is buried in Norway. The family have never had any medals and through our project we have recently been able to obtain these from the MOD. This service and presentation was open to members of the public. The service was kindly conducted by the Reverend Dr Peter Shepherd who we wish to thank for his kind help on this important occasion. His guidance and assistance at every stage of this process was invaluble. The service concluded at 3.15pm. Refreshments were then taken at the Grand.
Our thanks go to the Ribble Valley Borough Council Mayor Councillor Mrs Lois Rimmer, The Clitheroe Mayor Councillor Alan Yearing, LT Commander Richardson Royal Navy, Lt Col Lord R Assheton Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and the Chairman of the Lancashire County Council Chris Holtom who all very kindly presented the medals along with assistance from junior members of Clitheroe Youth.
Two framed photographs of the late Stanley Smith Pollard were presented to the two sisters. Roger Leach kindly reprinted the photographs and organised the filming with the young people.
Our thanks also go to the Royal British Legion and veterans from the Navy who came along. The standard bearers were again a credit.
Our thanks again also go to Norman Kelly for his administration skills for this occasion.
The BBC TV filmed for most of the day and up untll around 8pm finishing off at the War Cemetery in Whalley and will be shown on Saturday 4th September during the live National Lottery Draw.
We are proud to have been able to help Kath and Marjorie obtain their late brothers World War Two medals.
Sam Brealey War Veteran
Wednesday 30th June saw Sam Brearley's medal presentation at the Ribble Valley Borough Council Chambers which commenced at 3pm or slightly later as the Lottery film crew got lost in the hills of the Ribble Valley. Brilliant turnout with veterans, members of the Royal British Legion, supporters and young people from the youth group all playing their part. Peter Robinson OBE Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire, Ribble Valley Borough Council Mayor Councillor Mrs Lois Rimmer, The Mayor of Clitheroe Councillor Alan Yearing and Lieutenant Colonel L Pitt OBE presented four of the medals with members of the Citheroe Youth presenting the others. Both BBC and Granada TV filmed the proceedings and shown on their respective news programmes. BBC Radio Lancashire came along as did representatives from the local press. After tea and coffee along with soft drinks the National Lottery filmed various aspects of the project at St Mary's Church Hall. Much of this important work had been carried out over the last year at the Art and Crafts Studio -Old Shawbridge Mills -Taylor Street, Clitheroe and our thanks go to Beryl Taylor, Norman Kelly, Chris Tattersall, Roger Leach and Shirley Penman, Itzone, Peter Dunn, Ben Smith, Benjamine Stevens, Marion Sycamore and Andrew at North West Sound Archives based at the Castle Museum.
Vital research continues at the Clitheroe Library and our thanks go to their staff for there help.
Thanks to Sam Brearley who deserved every second of this occasion and Jayne his carer and all those who helped behind the scenes.
Thank you once again for supporting us during the National lottery Voting process. Mel Diack M.B.E Chairman
We have produced this web site to commemorate the men and women from the Ribble Valley who gave their lives fighting in the Second World War, and subsequent conflicts.
After finding that there was no Book of Remembrance to honour those from Clitheroe who fell in the Second World War. Mel Diack MBE who is Chairman of the Clitheroe Youth Forum suggested that there should be a Remembrance Book. They all met at the Arts and Crafts studio in Clitheroe to find out what could be done. There the decision to make a War Memorial book was made.
At the meeting it was decided to also make a website along with a film of the project. We were helped to create and manage the website by Peter Dunn of ITzone. Furthermore it was decided that a book would be made in Braille for those who are visually impaired and for this go into the Clitheroe Library. For this we brought in Chris Tattersall of Braille IT, who would also be helped by some of the younger youth members in the Clitheroe Youth group.
