A New War Memorial in Finchley
Over the past two years Catherine Loveday has spent a great deal of time adding the names of WW2 victims missing from the war memorials in Barnet erected after WW1. You can learn more about her work in this clip from the “1000 Londoners” website
This work is complete for East Barnet, New Barnet and Hendon, but ran into difficulties in Finchley. Catherine’s research has revealed that about 750 Finchley residents were killed in WW1, and 550 in WW2. The war memorial outside of St Kilda’s in North Finchley is too small for these names to be added and there is no other memorial in Finchley. Money was collected at the end of WW1 for a memorial, but it was decided to spend the funds extending Finchley Cottage Hospital, which was later renamed Finchley Memorial Hospital in a tribute to those from Finchley who were killed in the Great War.
Catherine, along with Mick Crick (Chair of the Finchley Society) are members of the Barnet War Memorials Association, chaired by Martin Russell, the Deputy Lieutenant for Barnet Borough. The Association decided to investigate whether a new war memorial could be built in the grounds of the hospital. It commissioned a design from Robertsons Monumental Masons in East Finchley and has been granted the necessary permissions from the NHS and from Barnet. Now the aim is to start work on the memorial in May, so that it can be completed by Remembrance Sunday in November 2018.
The total cost will be about £65K and to date £40K has been raised, with more donations in the pipeline. When the Association becomes a registered charity at the end of February, it will be eligible to claim gift aid, and there will be a new donations page on the website.