Meet the people working together to clean and preserve Wolverhampton war memorial

The Trinity Methodist Church War Memorial sits on Compton Road in the Chapel Ash area of Wolverhampton and has been part of the community since the end of the First World War.

The century-old First World War memorial cross sits at the site of the former Trinity Wesleyan Church, which was bulldozed in the mid-1970s to make way for homes.

The memorial was originally unveiled at a ceremony in 1920 and features the inscription ‘Faithful unto Death’.

An order of service describes it as "a Gothic cross standing 20 feet high. The material is red granite, red being the symbolic colour of sacrifice".

It adds: "On the panel are the names of 22 young heroes from Trinity who were 'Faithful unto Death'."

After falling into disrepair as it reached its centenary in 2020, it was given a new lease of life by then-Park Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre, who put forward £3,000 of his ward funds to pay for a revamp. 

Since then, he and a community group have worked to ensure the site is clean and tidy and the memorial is looked after all year round, particularly around Remembrance Weekend and the Compton Road Memorial service there on November 11.

Among the community group working to maintain the area are Royal Oak Licensee Terry Cole and local resident Phil Farmer, with Mr Cole explaining what work has been done over the past few years to keep the memorial clean and tidy.

He said: "For the past four or five years, we've come down here and regravelled the path and clean it, done the grass and there's a signpost there that we've done and made it nice and clean.

"Basically, what we've done is look after it and not allow it to decay because there's a lot of hard work put in by Michael to get it to where it is today and we've just kept up the good work for him.

"When we first started work on it, it was in a terrible state and just looked old and tired, but now it looks respectable and people come to the services here, with about 70 or 80 people usually coming to honour our great war dead."

Dr Hardacre said he had been told about the state of the memorial by a colleague and and pledged ward funds towards helping restore it, but said it wouldn't be possible without the work of the local community.

He said: "I devoted ward funds to it because it needed a degree of repainting and cleaning, but if it wasn't for the Royal Oak and the Chindit pubs, we wouldn't even be able to do this because they've been the people who've kept the flame alive of remembrance for the men of Compton and Chapel Ash.

"There used to be a lovely church that was based here years ago, but fortunately, the Methodist Church is supporting us by doing the religious part of the service, which they have done for the last few years and support from the education department with a bugler, which help us to do the Last Post with proper due reverence."

Phil Farmer said he felt it was important to remember all those who have lost their lives in wars and conflicts and said the community was committed to doing so.

He said: "I think it's important because we shouldn't forget and we should remember the people who gave their lives in wars and conflicts and I think everyone has had a relative who has been touched by these wars.

"We've got a number of people who have assisted with painting the railings, putting out poppies and distributing leaflets to the local area and that's a group effort from a dedicated band of people."