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War Memorials

My hon. Friend makes an important point, and he is right. The Royal British Legion has what it calls its roll of honour, and it has been asking volunteers to record the names on memorials throughout the country. The problem, however, is knowing where the memorials are. When I first started doing this, I was thinking about cemetery gates, rolls of honour in churches, memorial plaques and so on, but I have discovered many more that I did not know existed. Although I knew this one existed, for example, I have asked many residents in my area whether they have noticed the first world war memorial in the main post office in Grimsby, and they tell me that they have not. That memorial was saved from a building that was demolished, but the one for the fire service is locked away in an archive. The issue is all about knowing whether memorials exist. If we do not know that memorials are in boarded-up buildings, particularly factories and redundant schools, that is a problem. A national inventory is so vital, because we have to get those things on record. Then we can contact the Legion to ensure that the memorials are protected. Although the last Tommy has passed away, the number of people attending remembrance parades has increased in recent years—certainly in the past decade. That is because of things such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, where one can input the names of family members and find out about people. Intriguingly, as we approach the 100th anniversary of world war one an increasing number of people are becoming interested in this issue. That is why I am calling for a national day of commemoration similar to what the French do—they have what they call their days of "patronomie", when public buildings are opened up. It would be wonderful to see churches, schools and council buildings in this country—wherever the more hidden memorials can be found—opened up. We could restore the memorials and open the doors, so that people can see the memorials and pay their respects. That would help tourism too, because people visit places to see memorials. It would be a real boost to this country’s economy if we could co-ordinate that. I shall end my speech with a little local story. I know that sport is the normal brief of my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe), who is on the Front Bench for this debate, so I shall briefly discuss the footballers who enlisted in the 17th Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment in the first world war. One of those to enlist was the Grimsby Town football club captain, Sid Wheelhouse. In France, the various battalions played against each other to try to win the "British Expeditionary Force Football Association Cup". Being professional footballers, the 17th Battalion had the edge and sailed though to the final, which was set for 11 April 1915. The 17th Battalion met the 34th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery and were decisive winners, by a score of 11-0. Tommy Lonsdale, Sid Wheelhouse and Dave Kenny from Grimsby Town were in the winning team, but by September the following year Sid Wheelhouse had become another casualty of the war. He was a well respected player of his day—almost its David Beckham. St. Aidan’s church is across the road from Blundell Park, where Grimsby Town play and where I believe my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) has been.