Wreath-laying service to take place at refurbished War Memorial in Mansfield

A bronze plaque on the listed monument in Carr Bank Park was stolen in April 2011.

The monument has stood bare until this week when a new black granite and gold lettered plaque was installed after it was commissioned and paid for by Mansfield’s Heroes Memorial Fund.

Mansfield District Council is paying for the plaque - thought to have been in place since the memorial was unveiled in 1921 - to be erected.

The wreath-laying ceremony will take place at 1.30pm on Sunday, which veterans and folk are welcome to attend.

Mansfield’s Heroes Memorial Fund is a charity which raises funds to support ex-servicemen and women in Nottinghamshire.

It also maintains the new memorial it built in the park, which honours servicemen and women killed in action since the end of the Second World War.

Said Heroes Fund chairman, Graham Parker: “It is a great honour for us to be able to replace the stolen plaque.

“To have it in place for 11/11 will be really important to the veterans of Mansfield and district as they will be able to look upon the words and pay tribute to those that gave their lives for our freedoms.”

Veterans’ associations or individuals that want to attend and lay a wreath should contact the Heroes Fund on 01623 638023.

The service takes place after other Remembrance Sunday commemorations have taken place across the district.

They include:

Rainworth

Service of Remembrance at St Jude’s Church at 10.45am.

Mansfield

Commemorations begin at 10am with a ceremony at the Civic Centre War Memorial, before a parade to St Peter’s Church for a service at 10.55am. This will be followed with a parade back to the Civic Centre.

On the town’s Bellamy Road estate, there will be a wreath-laying service at 10.30am at the Community Centre.

Mansfield Woodhouse

A parade will leave from Morrisons’ car park for the town’s Cenotaph in Yeoman Hill Park at 10.30am, followed by a wreath-laying service at 11am. A service will take place afterwards at St Edmund’s Church.

Warsop

A parade will leave Carr Lane Ex-Serviceman’s Club at 10.15am for a 11am service at the War Memorial.

Forest Town

A parade through the town will take place before a service at St Alban’s Church. If the weather is dry, folk are urged to assemble at the welfare at 10.15am - but 10.30am if it is wet.