Wigginton memorial getting closer

A welcome helping hand from BT will see village plans come to life earlier…

Plans by villagers in Wigginton to formally remember the second recipient of the Victoria Cross as well as service men and women who have lost their lives in more modern conflicts are full steam ahead.

The BT phone box, which is rarely used, wouldn’t do the memorial justice if it stayed where it is so final agreement from BT to move it is great news

The idea of a formal war memorial for the village was hatched in a phone call to me last year from Bob Bird who lives in Wigginton and had been reading about the heroism of local lad from 200 years ago, Samuel Parkes. He was keen to see some sort of recognition and I encouraged him to do a village consultation to gain support and wider interest.

From my point of view it was also a chance for the village to ‘up’ its community activities. Wigginton is attractive but, I understand, historically hasn’t had quite the village networking and, I suppose, community spirit one might expect, particularly since the village hall was closed down a few years ago.

It was a lovely idea and a central project and focal point built on pride in the village could spark things off. So I was happy to help out if I could.

And spark interest… it has! The consultation saw a committee of a dozen formed to take things forward. That committee of a dozen grew into a wider group who were happy to help and that has grown into the village school playing a part and the wider community organising fund raising events from a Christmas Fayre to an ABBA night to name a couple.

So all was going well until the issue of the BT phone box on the ’size challenged’ Wigginton village green came into focus. Beautiful memorial proposed in white granite but questionable whether the BT box would detract from it.

Well, the answer was it certainly would. Initial contact by the group with BT suggested significant bureacracy and many thousands of pounds to move it meaning the project, although still viable, would take much longer to deliver due to that extra cost. 

But now BT have come on board. After I had a couple of conversations with the right people there they were happy to assist with such an important community project. The process of removal cut to a minimum and absolutely no charge to the memorial project. Problem solved and the memorial will become a reality much sooner… as early as next June.

Oh, and by the way, just to be clear the phone box hadn’t been used in a very very long time.

Click here to comment on this post