Ashbourne Telegraph - Friday 03 March 1922 (page 4) printed a lengthy report, headlined 'ST. JOHN'S CHURCH WAR MEMORIAL', which began:
'There was a crowded congregation at St. John's Church on Sunday afternoon who assembled to pay tribute to the memory of the men belonging the church who had gallantly fallen in the war. The memorial takes the form of a handsome stained glass window, over the altar, in the eastern wall, depicting the figure of Christ, with uplifted hands in the attitude of blessing. The scarlet robed figure, the varied greens of the trailing vines, and the purple grapes are the prevailing colours of the appropriate design. Beneath are the words "To the glory of God, and in loving remembrance of the men of this Church who gave their lives in the Great War." The names of the fallen are inscribed on two shields, one on either side the window, as follow: 1914 - 1919. OUR GALLANT DEAD. 2nd Lieut. D. Callow Pte. W. Legrice Sergt. W. A. Wibberley. Pte. J. Moon Corp,. L. G. Lowndes Pte. T. H. Mainwarin Lce.-Corpl. A. Harding Pte. E. Plant Pte. W. A. Astle Gunner F. W. Potter Pte. C. Bellfield Pte. A. Silvester Pte. W Blake Pte. R. Spencer Pte. F. J. Bull Pte. T. Tunnicliffe Pte. F. Colclough Gunner H. Walker Trooper F. Courtman Pte. H. Walton Pte. H. Courtman Pte. C. Ward Pte. F. Cox Pte. J. Wardle Pte. M. Faulkner Pioneer H. Wright Pte. J. Hellaby F. Bates Pte. A. Hollinshead W. Fearn Pte. A. Housley "Lest We Forget."
Amongst the large congregation were Capt. J. R. Mellor, Lieut. L. Parkinson, the latter being in charge of a detachment of Territorials, Mr. Peveril Turnbull, J.P., and a good muster of ex-service men. The service, which was conducted by the Rev. W. M. O'Kane, B.A., L.L.B., opened with the hymn "O God our help in ages past," followed by the Responses. Psalm 121, the Lesson, Nunc Dimittis and Apostle's Creed. Mr. E. W. Hurd, the churchwarden, then requested Capt. McNicol, M.C. (representing also Lieut. Graham Callow, D.S.0., M.C.) to unveil the memorial. After Capt. McNicol had performed the ceremony Canon Morris pronounced the dedicatory sentences, which were followed by several short prayers. The hymn "Fight the good fight" was then sung, followed by the address. In his eloquent address the Rev. W. M. O'Kane said: We have met together to unveil and dedicate a permanent memorial for our gallant dead. It has been unveiled by Capt. M'Nicol, the sole survivor of three brothers who acquired high rank and distinction, and the uncle of Lieut. Graham Callow, who won both the M.C. and the D.S.O. It has been dedicated by Canon Morris, Honorary Chaplain to the Forces, whose deep interest in everything affecting the soldiers of the King is well known and highly appreciated. We give them thanks. Continuing, the speaker said the greatest men in all ages and in all countries have mourned, in shame and sorrow, the inadequacy of human gratitude; smaller men hare lamented the same thing less eloquently but not less earnestly. We are deeply grateful for services rendered, for sacrifices made, for gallant actions gallantly done; we are deeply grateful - for a while. But we pass on and the services and sacrifices are forgotten; or at least they are crushed down into the region of the sub-conscious. In order that we may not forget, in order to help our treacherous memories, we have erected our memorial. Every man who served his King and Country is worthy of grateful remembrance. But the dead most of all. "For us they still live" ought to be no meaningless phrase. "Their memory shall endure" ought to be more than a pious sentiment. The dead lived in literature, that memorial described as more enduring than brass. That description was perhaps truer in the time of the great Latin poet who first used the words than it is to-day. A War Library is in existence - the Imperial War Museum Library in St. Audley Street, London. It consists entirely of books dealing with the Great War, and has already 20,000 distinct volumes, and is not completed yet. That means that if a man were to read one book a day he would require 54 years to skim through what is already written. The historian of the future has no light task before him when he faces the period of the war. In all this welter of books there may be found forgetfulness rather than remembrance; death rather than life. For months past, if not now for years, the demand at libraries has been for "a book without any war in it." But poetry has special claims; and some of the gallant dead wrote poetry. Surely their poems will live, and they themselves live in their songs. One of the saddest things about the war was the sacrifice of immature talent, the hideous slaughter of generous young souls who might have become poets. Many died with all their music in them; some struck a few chords, played a few simple melodies and departed. A line or two quoted in other books, a lyric or two in an anthology, many remain; for the rest - forgetfulness! No, not quite. A father, mother, brother, sister, comrade, or friend, will often take down this slim volume from the shelves and read with poignant feelings the lines written in dugout or trench, in hospital or on the High Seas, and thank God that even these have been garnered...'
[The report included mention that ''The window is the artistic work of the Bromsgrove Guild. Bromsgrove, Worcester, and the shields, which are of pyro ware, were supplied by Mr. A. G. Reid, of Deal'].
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