A sponsored walk by a Chorley historian and author has raised over £500 for the appeal to place the names of the fallen on Chorley’s war memorial in Astley Park in the town.
Steve sits down with a cup of tea after his walk from Chorley to Accrington which raised over £500 for Chorley Remembers
Brindle based, Steve Williams, is Secretary of the Chorley Pals Memorial and the Chorley Remembers appeal and the 59 year old walked sixteen miles on Sunday from the Chorley Pals Memorial in the centre of Chorley to Accrington Town Hall – back in the First World War, the Chorley Company formed part of the famous Accrington Pals Battalion that were decimated at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.
The walk took Mr. Williams just over five hours along the Leeds-Liverpool canal to Blackburn and then along the main road to Accrington.
Along the way he paid respects to the men from Withnell Fold Paper Mill who fought in two World Wars and who are named in the garden of remembrance at Withnell Fold, just off the canal.
During the trip his son Craig, caught up with his father to do video up-dates for the Pals website, as well as posting progress reports on Facebook and Twitter.
A short video report is now on the Chorley Pals website, Facebook and YouTube:
Commenting on the walk, Steve said “It is my way of raising money for the appeal and may I thank everyone for their support. Despite being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Chorley Remembers project still has to raise funds and I ask, once again, for the good people of Chorley to support the appeal and project”.
Later this month Trustees behind the project hope to announce another major fundraising event in the town in October, whilst a decision on £270,000 worth of funding to complete the 18 month project is expected from the National Lottery on the 12th September.
As for work on the project, Mr. Williams and his colleague, Project Manager Nikki Davidson-Kerr, are working on collating and verifying the names to go on the war memorial. Aided by volunteers from the Chorley branch of the Lancashire Family History Society, they have identified some 536 names from the First World War and 135 from the Second World War, but expect this to number to rise once the names and plans got to public consultation in early October.
Updates on the project appear regularly on this website.
