War Memorials

Many of us left the Farnworth area early in our lives and have since managed to return only rarely or not at all. Consequently some of us learned, long after the event, that the school building had been demolished, and we wondered about the fate of the school's war memorials.

Here I must acknowledge the debt we exiles owe to Shirley Ingham (née Ivers, FGS 1969-74), who is by no means a Wrinkly but who clearly feels for the old place just as much as the rest of us do. Shirley has managed single-handedly to find and photograph most of the the items that comprised the WW1 and WW2 memorials — and she hasn't given up on the rest. The original items are shown in the four photographs below, which were scanned (by Shirley of course) from Mr. A. Wilson's booklet on the history of FGS.*

The photographs above show the components of the school's WW1 War Memorial, namely:
1. a stained glass window;
2. a carved oak lectern;
3. a Book of Remembrance in a carved wooden display case;
4. a stone commemorative tablet.

The fifth component was the turret clock (click here) from the roof of the school. It disappeared during the demolition work and hasn't been seen since.

Click on a link (above) to see what is known about the present whereabouts of the item concerned, or click here to read the inscription on the WW1 memorial tablet .

The second pair of photographs shows the WW2 War Memorial, which was paid for (at least partly) by money raised by the Old Farnworthians organisation. It comprised (left) a stone commemorative tablet bearing the names of the 31 Old Boys killed in WW2 (click here to read the inscription), and (right) an electric organ.

The WW2 stone tablet is now in Farnworth Town Hall, mounted on the wall below the WW1 memorial window. We haven't yet traced the organ. CAN YOU HELP?

The Town Hall's relatively recent extension has a circular stained-glass window which is something of a mystery. Apparently some of its glass came from an FGS window...(?)

Finally, these pages also include a note about the provenance of the WW1 and WW2 war memorial tablets, written in 1951 by Mr. A. Wilson, the then headmaster. The note is transcribed from the programme for the service of Unveiling and Dedication of the WW2 tablet, held in the school on Wednesday July 11th, 1951.