East Stour Sundial War Memorial has a new flagpole thanks to an anonymous donation to the Village Action Plan.


The human sundial war memorial was officially unveiled at a formal dedication ceremony last year, on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
Thanks to an anonymous donation to the Village Action Plan, a new flagpole and union flag was installed in time for this year’s Armistice Day.

This year, due to covid-19 restrictions, no formal ceremony was possible but a few villagers informally held a two-minute silence with the new flag lowered to half-mast as the names of the fallen in the two world wars were read out and the Last Post sounded.
After the First World War, East Stour didn’t create an external memorial but built a snooker room where veterans could meet and socialise.
A memorial plaque listing the names of the 19 men who were killed, together with the names of those who returned from the Great War, was created.
A stone plaque including the names of those killed in the Second World War is hung in the village hall’s foyer.

Some years ago Guy Gilding, who lives in a farmhouse in the village, found some names carved on the roof rafters when the house was built in 1912.
With research, he discovered three of the men had gone off to war only never to return, killed in action.
Guy set about creating an external memorial for relatives and villagers to attend whenever they wished.

With the interest he created, he started fund raising for the £4,000 needed and received donations from relatives, villagers and the Village Action Plan.
The plans and the funds met the target date of creating the memorial for the centenary in November 2019 of the end of the Great War.

The Memorial dedicate to everyone from East Stour who has been affected by war

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