YEARS later than most communities, Oakworth’s Great War memorial is seen here being unveiled on October 2, 1937, in what was then the Holden Recreation Ground, now more commonly called Oakworth Park.
An original design, which would have incorporated the memorial inside the surviving portico of the former Oakworth House, roused considerable opposition. Alternatives include a proposed roll of honour in the park’s grottoes.
Eventually a War Memorial Committee opted for this slender archway of Yorkshire stone enclosing the tablet bearing the names of 42 Oakworth men who had died.
It was given pride of place inside the park entrance, a fountain having been moved to make way for it.
The memorial was unveiled by Mrs Robert Heaton, widow of the former chairman of the Oakworth District Council, who had lost a son in the war.
Poignantly, ex-serviceman Ellis Wright, secretary of the War Memorial Committee, had died early that summer. A seat in his memory was unveiled at the same ceremony.
In the background is the tower belonging to a formal Wesleyan Methodist Day and Sunday School.
The photograph has been supplied by Rosamund Mitchell, of Grange Farm, Oakworth.
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