On Armistice Sunday 2002 most cars were brought to a halt, some with their engines still running, for the two minute silence which was observed by the annual gathering at our War Memorial. Above the poppies and the names of the Chipperfield dead in both World Wards it was sad to see the column still topped by a broken shaft.
The surrounding cross has been missing now for over two years and many of us at the outdoor service had forgotten which of the two most recent forces of destruction, vandalism or gales, had caused the damage which has not yet been repaired. Perhaps a future issue of Chipper
field News could contain an update on the efforts that are being made to unravel the red tape that impedes progress. The postponed target for completion must surely now be achieved before 11 November 2003, in order to ensure that another Remembrance Sunday does not go by with our own War Memorial looking less well preserved than those in foreign fields and in distant lands.
A broken pillar is the ancient Christian symbol of death and mortality, but the surmounting cross, when replaced, will once more reinforce the image of salvation through sacrifice.
Mary Stirling

A reply from Liz Holliday on behalf of the Parish Council: THE WAR MEMORIAL: