The Chorley Pals Memorial
Chorley Remembers is a major heritage project devised, managed and delivered by Trustees behind the Chorley Pals Memorial, a registered charity no. 1121707, based in the Lancashire market town.
The charity was founded in 2007 by the town’s MP, Lindsay Hoyle, and local historian and author, Steve Williams. In less than three years it raised over £105,000 for a memorial to the town’s ‘Pals’ unit who fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The statue was unveiled on the 28th February 2010 and stands proudly overlooking ‘The Flat Iron’ - the town’s main market.
The memorial was the first in the town to recognise the service and sacrifice of servicemen from Chorley. As that project progressed (and at the unveiling) locals and visitors alike began to ask why others, from all conflicts, were not recognised or named on the town’s Cenotaph in Astley Park. The Cenotaph was unveiled on the 31st May 1924 after a two year public appeal; however, no names were inscribed back then, or since.
Responding to the obvious demand to put right what should have been done 65 years previous, in December 2009 Trustees applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund and three months alter were granted initial funding to develop the project. Due to the General Election in May, and taking time to recruit an experienced Project Manager, the project’s official launch took place on the 15th October with a walk through the town. It was led by Lindsay Hoyle MP and went from the Chorley Pals statue to the town’s museum & art gallery at Astley Hall, taking in sites to be developed as part of the £300,000 project.
Initial funding is for one year with a further application for delivery (stage 2) funding in Spring 2011. Some £20,000 has to be found as “matched funding” from donations, additional grants, sponsorship or ‘benefit in kind’. Already one local company, Chorley Building Society, has pledged funds and office space but more is needed to ensure the project is completed by late summer 2012. However, the project will continue after that date - its legacy ensuring that all those from the town and Borough who fought and died in the service of their country will never be forgotten by current and future generations.
For more information about the project, click here. Details of the Chorley Pals Memorial can be found at www.chorleypalsmemorial.org.uk.
