St Mary's Church in Nether Alderley are part of a project to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, which is widely regarded as one of the most resonant episodes of World War One.
'The Path of the Remembered' asked people of all ages to pay a creative tribute to someone connected to the Battle of the Somme by designing a simple memory square dedicated to a family member, relative or a stranger.
Jenny Youatt, Church Warden at St Marys, designed a tile dedicated to the three men listed on St Mary's WW1 memorial: Frank Coops; William Gleave and Walter Summerfield.
She explained "A century on, it can be hard to comprehend the scale of the battle and look beyond the statistics, and the imagery of the trenches. The Path of the Remembered encouraged us to focus on the stories of the individual men and women who were directly affected, helping us understand the impact of the battle, not just in 1916, but on the following decades and the lives we lead today."
The first 5300 memory squares submitted were printed onto ceramic tiles and laid in a temporary physical Path of the Remembered at Heaton Park, the site of the National Commemorative Concert on Saturday, 1st July.
Following the event, some of the memory squares are being donated to a new Veterans Housing Village development for permanent installation in Newton Heath, Manchester Art Gallery for interior use and Manchester Cathedral for display in their visitor centre. Discussions are also underway with Heaton Park to see if they may wish to retain some of the memory squares.
Jenny said "We are delighted to let you know that our memory square was printed onto a ceramic tile to form part of The Path of the Remembered at Heaton Park in Manchester."
The 'virtual path' with the uploaded designs and words will remain online for the foreseeable future and St Mary's Church will be receiving a duplicate copy of their tile very soon, to have on display.
Memory Square
Dedicated to Frank Coops; William Gleave; Walter Summerfield by Jennifer Youatt
Organisation: St.Mary's Church, Alderley, Cheshire
These men appear on the WW1 memorial at St.Mary's Church, Alderley Cheshire and each one died on the Somme. We honour these soldiers and will always remember them. God Bless you all.
