Ryde War Memorial

During May to October 2018 a restoration project was undertaken to the Ryde War Memorial at All Saints Church. Over time the memorial had started to deteriorate. The inscribed panels were very difficult to read and some had decayed so badly that the names had disappeared.

After many meetings with the architect Tim Sage and members of All Saints Church it was decided that a restoration to the memorial should be undertaken. It was decided to first clean the memorial and then make a further assessment of the inscriptions.

After the memorial was cleaned, and what a difference that made, it was clear that the inscriptions were in a very poor condition.

All the names on the memorial and the inscriptions to the two dedication plaques had been recorded earlier. The next step was to reface the panels. The faces of the panels were taken back approximately 5mm and left with a smooth finish.

The inscriptions were set out on paper first and sent to the architect who, along with All Saints Church double checked that all was correct. Templates were then made and the names were transferred onto the panels. Then the long task of hand carving each letter began. As work progressed I was joined by Sam Preston who followed behind me carefully painting the newly carved letters.

The weather during the summer was very good for this sort of project although at times it became a little too hot and a few ice cream breaks were needed to cool off.

Appoximately 2,500 letters were carved and painted.

After work was completed there was a rededication service and all the names of the fallen were read out. I also had the honour of reading out some of these names.

To remember our fallen servicemen is very important and this was a most humbling and rewarding project to be involved in.