MADAM, Further to Mr Cooper of Stockton on Tees recent letter about the 'missing' War memorial in Greytree I have been happy to reassure him that it has been removed temporarily for expert refurbishment and will be reinstated to its rightful place at Greytree Lodge once the work is completed. The memorial was indeed commissioned by Mrs Evans, a previous owner of the Lodge to commemorate the lives of those men from Greytree who served in the First World War. In its edition of Thursday, July 19th, 1917 the Ross Gazette reported on a Garden party at the Lodge to celebrate the erection of the memorial. Its existence is now formally and officially on the national register of private war memorials erected in Britain held at the Imperial War Museum and is to be included on the deeds of Greytree Lodge to ensure that it remains as part of the estate in perpetuity. When we had the previous rededication of the Memorial in December 1990 after its complete restoration a number of relatives of those named attended the ceremony and, for a number of years, there was also a small Remembrance Day service, now sadly discontinued . We would hope to have another rededication ceremony once the work is complete and would hope, with the help of the Ross Gazette that we can again trace members of the families of those men listed, including Mr Cooper's grandfather, to invite them to attend. John White via email
