Oldham Council failed to finish work on the war memorial in Uppermill in time for the Remembrance Day service.
Improvement work is currently being carried out at many of Saddleworth’s war memorial sites after Oldham Council approved £50,000 for the improvement of sites across the borough.
Although these improvements have been welcomed the timing, so close to Remembrance Day, meant that work on the memorial in Uppermill was not completed in time for the service.
Parish Councillor Ken Hulme said that the condition the monument was left in was not appropriate for the service.
Councillor Hulme said: ‘I was shocked at the state we found the war memorial in. I thought at first vandals had been at it and then I found out Oldham Council workers were responsible. The inscriptions and their surroundings had been smeared with black paint presumably as the first stage to highlighting the wording of the inscriptions. Unfortunately the work had not been finished in time for the November 11th ceremony, which was attended by scores of local residents. It was an insult to the British Legion members present and Oldham Council should make a full apology to all of us who attended the ceremony for their failure to have the memorial ready and in a fit state for the service. ‘
More information regarding memorial improvements in Oldham can be found here.
The relettering of the war memorial in St Chad’s gardens in Uppermill was an unfortunate series of errors by Oldham Council staff. The intention was well meaning, to have the memorial relettered before the Sunday when they thought the Remembrance Service was to take place. They had not realised that the service was actually on the 11th.
In addition to this mistake the monumental mason, who had been given the job, was used to working with marble monuments, not coarse gritstone. The standard technique used on these, he told me, is to roughly paint over the lettering then rub off the surface paint with a carborundum stone. I happened to be passing by on the Thursday when the painting was taking place. He had intended also doing the Austerlands memorial in the same way. I stopped him going any further, having serious doubts that the paint could easily be removed (doubts which proved to be correct)and the potential damage that would be caused by a rough abrasive.
I have since been working with the Oldham officers to try and restore the monument to something like its original appearance. The paint has now been removed and the Council have agreed that the lettering will be carefully painted in. The British Legion have been fully informed at every stage of the way, and were alerted to the mistake before the Friday service. We both agree that the monument should have been left as it was. The lettering on this type of monument is not meant to be painted in. However we are where we are.
The Council have profusely apologised for the errors. It was a genuine mistake, born out of good intentions. They have agreed with me that they will consult locally before going any further with the restoration work.