Oldham pays its respects on Remembrance Sunday 2022

Reporter: Ken Bennett
Date published: 14 November 2022

They thronged to the hillsides, villages and from across Oldham to pay their respects at touching Remembrance Sunday services.

Throngs of people once again turned up at the Oldham Parish Church memorial, while at Austerlands, 200 turned out at Saddleworth’s oldest Great War Memorial.

Proud residents received a King Charles III wreath gifted by Greater Manchester Lieutenancy in honour of the district's fallen. 

This special wreath was placed on behalf of His Majesty the King by the bugler’s daughter Ericka Prescott, aged eight, and her cousin, the same age, Jasmine Illingworth-Lomas.

Event organiser David Needham said: “We were particularly pleased to see more and more children attending the event, and the assembly was captivated by 10 week old Jase Johnson (see picture above), a village resident, proudly wearing his poppy in support of his Great Granddad’s Uncle, Thomas Burns, of the Gloucestershire Regiment. 

“Thomas was killed in the Great War at the age of 22 and his name is listed in the Austerlands remembrance sheet as being from Claytons View, Springhead.”

Residents proudly received a wreath from the Mayor of Oldham, laid by Cllr Pam Byrne, Ward councillor for the area. 

Cllr Byrne, current chairman of the Saddleworth Parish Council, is believed she is the first person holding that title to attend at Austerlands on a Remembrance Sunday.

Proceedings were conducted by Mr Roger Fielding, with prayers by the Reverend Lynn Woodall of St John the Baptist Church, Hey. 

The Last Post was sounded by locally-born Vicky Prescott, and Mrs Susan Smith read extracts from the poem 'the Lads of Austerlands and Scouthead', written by famed poet Ammon Wrigley, in 1918, when he lived in the village.

Further research by Mrs Smith ensured names and regiments of the men who fought and fell in the Great War were published in the Order of Service, together with a brief history of the monuments unveiling on August 7, 1920.

Wreaths were also placed by Stuart Cook, the Mayor of Austerlands; Geoffrey Fielding on behalf of Saddleworth Parish Council; Mrs Joan Sykes on behalf of the Scouthead & Austerlands Community Group; Gareth Farnam-Jones on behalf of the North West Ambulance Service and from a representative on behalf of the Debbie Abrahams, the Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

Meanwhile, a stunning suspended carpet of poppies offered a dramatic contrast to Diggle’s contribution to Remembrance (see above).

Janet Iles, who created the tableau, said: “I decided to recreate what I did a year ago and invite people from the community to add their poppies too. 

“I sent out invitations and instructions on social media and lots of people in Diggle responded..

"A big thank you to Gary Tarbuck from Diggle Village Association who fixed the netting to the roof edge for us, and to Diggle Brownies who made lots of poppies and lovely wreath out of their hand shapes, which takes pride of place on the cascade of poppies.

“In addition this year my husband, Geoff, and I created a ‘soldier’ for the garden at Kilngreen and ‘planted’ some of the poppies in the grass to make a display.

“If anyone still wants to place a poppy in Remembrance of someone in their family please do so.

"We will be keeping the display up for another week or so after Sunday.”

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