Aldington Memorial and Memorial Gardens.
Many years ago David Hughes was asked be a lady visitor carrying a
bunch of flowers, where Aldington Memorial was? I had to tell her
“We have no memorial” he told me. The lady was looking for her son’s
name so David took her to Aldington Church where there were some names
recorded of the fallen from two wars. “She burst into tears when she
discovered that her sons name was not among those listed.”.
He first discussed the idea of a War Memorial for Aldington with Bill
Deeds the famous politician and journalist in 1980. He learned that
many names of the fallen were not listed in churches if they had not
been church goers.
David, who has been involved with listing names of the fallen of many
villages in Kent, searched out those from Aldington, 40 from the First
World War and 10 from World War Two. He helped set up a Committee,
got others involved, was elected Chairman and went about making it
possible for Aldington to have it’s own War Memorial.
He approached Martin Boulden, Chairman of the Parish Council and discovered
Martin had suitable dressed flagstones from an old 1830’s barn that
had been damaged by fire. And so fund-raising and building began.
The magnificent Aldington War Memorial was dedicated at 11 am.
on Saturday 2 July,
This is a short piece of film recording the event
The full story and many pictures will be included in next month’s issue of “Cinque Ports”
A Rye’s Own Film. Sunday 3 July 2016
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