Making a memorial for life
Filed Under Country Curtain | Posted on January 21, 2008
In the aftermath of the Second World War, with cenotaphs springing up the length and breadth of the country, Lytham St Annes looked to another means of commemorating its war dead by providing homes for disabled ex-servicemen
As war memorials go, theres a certain poignancy to commemorating the sacrifice of fallen heroes by providing a home for those returning veterans who had sacrificed limb rather than life.
So in those immediate post-war years, when the council and people of Lytham St Annes were contemplating the most fitting memorial to the towns 195 war dead, they turned aside from the conventional cenotaph and opted instead to establish a housing association.
Lytham St Annes War Memorial Housing Association was consequently founded in 1949 with the help of charitable donations to cover funds. Land was effectively donated by the local squire Clifton, who ceded the ground by means of a long lease for the token yearly sum of a shilling (five pence), subject to several covenants. This arrangement continued throughout the remainder of the 20th Century, until the Association finally bought the land in 1999, freeing it from the restrictive covenants.
The founding commitment was simple enough, and largely remains the same to this day. That is to provide dwellings for ex-service men and women and their dependents in necessitous circumstances, and also provide housing for disabled people. Further to this, it was also to provide the amenities, construct homes and manage those properties.
While the founding ethos remains to this day, naturally the way that remit is expressed has changed and evolved over the years. Time and tide waits for no man, and the association has had to grow with the challenges and the times, opening its services wider, but without straying from those original founding principles.
We still cater for ex-service people, said chairman Russell Woods, but we have a long waiting list. We give extra points for ex-service men and women, but they dont always get the bungalows because a lot of people are in dire straits.
The association began building its first ten homes in 1950 and a commemorative stone was laid with the inscription: %26lsquo;They gave their tomorrow for our today.
After a %26pound;10,000 loan was secured, the second phase of building began to provide 28 units and also a shrine. This is, remember, a war memorial as well as a housing provider.
The first of these homes and the shrine itself were officially dedicated in 1952. It features a plain oak cross and a shelf to display the Associations Book of Remembrance, which contains the names of all the 195 service men and women who never came home.
Since those early days, new waves of building work continued sporadically, as funds permitted, with the properties created in the early days refurbished and modernised as needed.
Last month, the association took possession of its latest batch of bungalows, which brings its total stock up to 114. The two interior ones are designed for disabled people, and the two exterior ones are designed for frail elderly, Woods added, but at a push I could use them all for disabled people.
As sheltered housing, the aim is to promote the independent living of the residents as much as possible. To that end, the association signed up to the Supporting People programme at its inception. Under that programme the associations staff assess the likely care needs of the prospective residents, not just in the here and now, but in the future. The emphasis is to help people remain in their own home as long as possible.
Investment has also seen a new hall extension built. This provides a venue for events not only for the residents but also for groups within the wider community, such as regular tea dances for residents focusing on music of the 40s and 50s. Theres also a treatment room on site, which provides podiatry services for the residents. So theres no excuse for hobbling around the dance floor now, Woods pointed out.
The latest phase of development has also introduced a %26lsquo;sensory garden for the benefit of the residents. This is a quiet place, where they can sit in peace and quiet and enjoy the scents and colours of the plants. For many of the residents, access to a garden is a much-valued aspect; for many going in to sheltered housing a garden is something they may have to give up but not at Lytham St Annes. The residents are positively encouraged to tend their own gardens, created in border plots around their homes. These may be nothing fancy in the wider scheme of gardening, but by all accounts the residents make the most of them and more.
As Woods said: I notice that the little borders are getting bigger and bigger every year! Some are quite ambitious but they look quite beautiful.
Tags: borders, dances, donations, poignancy, remainder, venueRelated posts
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