I understand that on Monday, April 9, at the Totnes Town Council meeting, the decision will be made on whether or not to move our war memorial outside St Mary’s Church.

If you don’t want to see the war memorial moved for purely cosmetic reasons, please write to the mayor before then.

I am pleased that our local Royal British Legion is now opposing the move.

The war memorial has now been Grade-II listed and I?am extremely grateful to the War Memorials Trust which hasbeen so helpful to the relatives and have instigated this listing.

This was to be a permanent memorial and, when it was dedicated in 1921, it was committed to the safekeeping of the rector and churchwardens and again when rededicated in 1947 was again accepted into the care of the vicar and churchwardens.

The original position was discussed at length and with considerable discussion with the architect.

A meeting in 1920 of the war memorial committee finalised the decision.

Sir Reginald Blomfield, architect of the Cross of Sacrifice and the Menin Gate, wrote to our committee saying that he did not want the memorial positioned too closely to the porch and felt it should be either to the left or right of it.

The building, he suggested, should form a background to the memorial.

The committee then decided unanimously that the current site, to the right of the porch and not too close to the building nor the street, should be chosen.

This has been very distressing an upsetting to the relatives and many of these men have no known grave and I have always considered this memorial to stand for their last resting place.

Val Price

Parkers Close, Totnes