Bandon War Memorial Committee
Background Printable Version
The
Bandon War Memorial Committee was founded in Bandon Co Cork in
September 1995, whose sole aim was the erection of a memorial stone
to the memory of those who fought and those who died in both
World Wars from the Bandon area. At that initial stage a total
of seventy-four people who had died in the First World War
were
identified from the local area of Bandon.
The
committee had sought, and by early January, had been granted
permission to erect its memorial stone on the council's green
area in front of the local offices of Cork Co. Council. This was
the site of the old railway station, it was from here that many
departed for the wars and some never to return.
On Sunday the 3rd of November 1996, a tree planting ceremony took place at the Memorial site. The clergy from all the main Christian churches in Bandon led the gathered assembly in prayers for remembrance and for peace. A young evergreen oak tree was planted by the church representatives and by the Honorary President of the committee as a symbolic living element to the Memorial site. This date, the first Sunday of Nov., was to become an annual remembrance event at the Memorial in Bandon, subsequently moved to Rememberance Sunday (2nd Sunday in Nov.)
From left to right, George V. Duke; Peter Jeffers (Westside Evangilical Church); Rev. John Dowse (Methodist Church); Rev John Faris (Presbyterian Church); Fr. Martin O'Driscoll (R.C.); Canon Michael Burrows (C. of I.)