Wirral remembers our fallen heroes (From Wirral Globe)

Wirral remembers our fallen heroes

10:58am Monday 9th November 2009

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WIRRAL's mayor praised the many thousands who turned out on Remembrance Sunday to pay their respects to the borough's war dead.

Councillor Andrew Hodson, who attended the service at Birkenhead Hamilton Square, said estimates show that numbers had quadrupled from last year.

A similar story was repeated at war memorials across the peninsula.

Councillor Hodson said: "I found it extraordinarily moving.

"It was especially sad at Birkenhead, when Margaret Boote, the mother of Corporal Steven Boote, who so tragically lost his life last week in Afghanistan, placed a wreath at the memorial.

"It is obvious that the Remembrance Service has come to be more and more important to the people of Wirral in recent years. Steven was the third member of the armed services from Wirral to make the ultimate sacrifice for his country this year.

"We remembered those who have recently lost their lives, but of course we also owe such a debt of gratitude to the many who perished in the Great War and World War II."

The West Kirby Grange Hill memorial also witnessed the largest turn out in recent memory.

Lord Hunt of Wirral, the former Conservative West Wirral MP who has not missed a Remembrance Service on the hill in 32 years, said: "It was a remarkable turn out and it seems to me that the numbers of people wanting to pay their respects is growing and growing with every passing year."

Later, a wreath was laid at the West Kirby Concourse memorial to the Hoylake 149 Regiment.

The last two surviving members of the "Hoylake Horse" attended the quiet ceremony.

Well-attended services were also held at St Stephen's Church, Prenton; Port Sunlight war memorial; St Barnabas Church, Bromborough; St Andrew's Church, Bebington; St Oswald's Church, Bidston; the Cenotaph, Moreton; St Peter’s Church, Lower Village, Heswall; Ford Road, Upton; Magazines Promenade, New Brighton; the Shaftesbury Youth Club, Prenton; and the memorial at Thornton Hough.

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