Leigh Cenotaphs.

Wigan Council are responsible for managing 12 memorials around the borough.

Every year, the Atherton, Tyldesley and Leigh war memorials become the focal point of their town’s remembrance parades and commemoration events on Armistice Day, otherwise known as Remembrance Sunday. Residents are joined by local councillors to recognise the sacrifices made by servicemen and women in the two world wars and recent conflicts, and wreaths are lay at the memorials as a sign of respect for those who fought and died in war.

Atherton’s cenotaph was unveiled in January 1922 by Private J. Roylance, a soldier blinded in action during the First World War. Leigh’s cenotaph was unveiled later in the same year on 1st November in a ceremony attended by LT GEN SIR Beauvo De Lisle KCB KCMG DSO. Tyldesley’s war memorial was unveiled in the same month, in a ceremony attended by the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres KT.

It was an honor to be awarded these works around our hometown, and important to Structures Group that they were carried out with diligence, given what the memorials represent. The memorials were cleaned using our DOFF system, effectively removing moss, algae, fungi and other biological matter, whilst killing off any spores.

Although the temperature in the system is high, the pressure on the target surface is very gentle and the volume of water is low; a combination ideal for cleaning delicate stone. Using a system like this means there’s no need to use a chemical biocide during the removal process or as a protection against further biological activity, making it ecologically friendly.