Can you help?
The WMSG is seeking donations.
Pledge forms are available from the Parish Clerk as well as from any member of the WMSG.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the War Memorial Steering Group is to place a new WW1 and WW2 war memorial on the car park at St Andrews Church, Fairlight.
The memorial is to include all names of residents and service men and women who lost their lives in these wars.
Some people have asked why a new War Memorial is needed?
The existing situation is unrepresentative and unsatisfactory. At present the only memorial in Fairlight consists of the two plaques inside the church, one with 19 WW1 names and the other with 4 WW2 names. Both plaques are partly obscured by the organ console. There is a separate WW1 war memorial in the Catholic Burial Ground adjacent to the churchyard, but this was actually moved from its initial location in Chick Hill, Pett, and does not represent Fairlight.
In 2018, village archivist Paul Draper wrote a series of four articles in Fairlight News detailing the plaques, memorials and names of all the known victims of Fairlight and Pett Parishes. This showed that the existing memorials did not acknowledge the full extent of the losses from Fairlight. In addition, the boundaries of our two Parishes have changed since the outbreak of WW1 and, in certain cases, what is now Pett was previously Fairlight. Consequently, there was a general feeling that we, the present residents of Fairlight, needed to do something to rectify this incomplete and inaccurate situation. Additionally, we have identified some civilian casualties whose names should be added alongside the service personnel.
So, after consultations with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and elsewhere and rigorous final checking, there will be 47 names on the new memorial, 10 additional names for WW1 and 14 for WW2.
There is another reason why a prominent new war memorial is desirable. We have long been conscious that there is no collective outdoor memorial to act as a focus for remembrance in Fairlight. This is in marked contrast to the situation elsewhere locally and the War Memorial Group wants to rectify that omission. The site outside St Andrew’s Church will provide that opportunity.
To see all updates on this project, click here to go to the Parish Council’s War Memorial page.