Plaque | War dead, Civilian war dead | WW2

This is the story of a plaque that was lost and was mysteriously re-found, with pictures, before and after. Our thanks to Brian Longman for telling us about it and providing all our pictures - see his Facebook for the full story.

We show here the plaque as it was when first erected and as it is now, 2014, re-found, restored and re-erected.

Shortly after the end of WW2 the plaque was erected outside of the 1939 Community Centre, on the front wall. Funded by the local community it was unveiled by Father Spreadbury following a special dedication service. Then in 1995 the plaque was removed in preparation for the extension that can be seen in our photo. In 1998 Brian's grandfather realised that the plaque had not reappeared. He reported this to the Imperial War Museum who registered the plaque as "lost" in their inventory of war memorials.

In April 2014 Brian (great-nephew of the Longman named on the plaque) and his wife Natalie decided to get the plaque replaced. They contacted Southern Housing Group, who had taken over the management of Hindle House, only to be told that it had been re-erected inside the extension to the Community Centre, behind the door on the right. No one seems to know who re-erected the plaque or when. The plaque can be seen, even when the building is locked, through the glazed panel in the door.

Brian and Natalie led the War Memorial project, raising funds to have the plaque restored, and given a new base. The War Memorials Trust assisted with a grant. Brian has supplied all the information that we have on the individual pages, for each of the people commemorated on the plaque. Note: if only a year of birth is given it might be a year out.

The people named in the lower section of the plaque were killed when a bomb fell on Hindle House in the Blitz. The Hindle House War Memorial Project also erected another plaque to commemorate this event specifically.