Veterans and Remembrance
Almost every village in rural England has a memorial to its fallen, with their names etched on it, but that was not possible in Canning Town where the numbers of fatalities were too high to record on stone. In Canning Town a modest memorial was erected in the grounds of St. Luke’s to remember the fallen of the WWI. After WWII “And 1939-1945” was added.
As the new custodians of St Luke’s in 1997 the Charity’s Trustees became honour bound to maintain the memorial and to see that it was used in acts of remembrance. By 2000 the external works to the grounds had been completed and this included a special square around the memorial which was still in a sorry state. Then the memorial was noticed by an active WWII veteran by the name of Les Hains and he became determined to see it restored and used appropriately. Les obtained funds from Friends of War Memorials and the memorial was cleaned and re-etched with the added citation remembering local civilians killed. In 2003 a flagpole was added.
Les formed the South Canning Town Branch of the Royal British Legion which began to meet in the hall and for a few years this was a powerful force until one by one the veterans passed away. Whilst the branch dissolved the Charity has continued its essential remembrance work.
The Charity and the Legion worked on events together including well attended fetes or fun days in the grounds and special dinners with entertainers.
In 2008 it was announced that every war veteran was to be given a special medal and so a medal giving ceremony was arranged. Over 50 veterans with service on land, sea and air attended. Dinner and entertainment followed the emotional gathering when old comrades were remembered.