On Sunday, 17th December 2015 – Gaudete Sunday, the third in Advent – and a hundred years after many of the 25 parishioners had gone off to war, the memorial was blessed, in a special service of dedication, by Parish Priest, Canon David Lupton, two days after the installation was completed.

Central to the poignant service, attended by many parishioners and relatives of some of the men, were the Year 6 children of St James the Less Primary School, who commemorated each parishioner individually and dedicated a song of remembrance to them all.

The photograph below shows Canon Lupton and Year 6 children around the monument at the conclusion of the service. In the background is Alexandria Street where one of the soldiers, William Manning, lived and would have walked away from, passing the church, never to return, in 1915.