Good Morning, My name is Greg Mancini, I am the Commanding Officer of the Army Cadets that are based at High Wood Cadet Centre on Lordship Lane (a two minute walk from the Memorial). Every Remememberance Sunday we have attended this memorial and laid a wreath. Known on this Forum as the "Military Wreath". Before I took charge of the Army Cadets I was a cadet and was taught the History of the Battle of High Wood. Learing this history taught us the impact the battle of High wood had on the community. As cadets we would often tend to the Memorial by sweeping the leaves and cutting back any brambles. This practice still continues today and throughtout the year we try keep the memorial clean and tidy and teach new cadets about the local history. Around about 1995 we refurbished this memorial ourselves and a local retired colonel had the flag pole sent away and refurbished. Before I took over the Army Cadets the unit had been run by John Rayment a local man. He was and still is very intrested in this memorial and has been looking after it with the cadets since 1980. Many years ago he had noticed that this memorial had been forgotten by the majority of the community. He then had a vision of the memorial being moved into the former High Wood Barrcks. Along with Kevin Mehmet the Officer Commanding the Aircadets(based at High Wood Cadet Centre) they both thought that this would be the right thing to do and bring the memorial back to is former glory in a place where it will be well looked after. This idea had to be put on hold as the Old High Wood Cadet Barracks was demolished making way for flats. I now know that there is more local intrest into this memorial than I ever thought. What Geat news. Having met a few local peolpe on Sunday I heard that there were other ideas for the memorial and it was not just us who wanted the memorial to be remembered and noticed by the public. Our proposal is to have the memorial moved to High Wood Cadet centre and still be on public display. We have made a few enquires about this and it would be interesting to hear what other people think. If the memorial is to be moved we can keep it as a community project for everyone to help and get involved. Just think 87 Years ago when this memorial was opened the local community would have never expected for the memoiral to be in condition it now and forgotten about in the way it is now.
