The cache is a magnetic nano and is NOT placed on or in the boundary of the memorial.
The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.
One such memorial was raised at Eastwood, in a small memorial garden, as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by seven members of the local Ambulance Training Corps unit, who lost their lives in the First World War.
The Eastwood Cadet Corps Institute was established in December 1901 to provide social and educational facilities for local youths aged from 16 to 31 years. With an associated Boys Life Brigade for children aged 12 to 16, the Institute arranged a range of activities throughout the year including Ambulance drills three times a week. By January 1927 the organisation had become the Eastwood Ambulance Training Corps. A number of its members and ex-members served during the First World War.
The war memorial cross was erected in 1920 by members of the Training Corps. It commemorates seven men who died, including two men who died after the 11 November 1918 Armistice with Germany. The seven had served in different regiments, but two appear to have used their medical training. Private Horace Goff (d 1916) joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and was serving in 74th Field Ambulance Unit on the Somme when he died whilst attending a wounded man. Private James Wing (d 1918) also spent time on medical duties as a stretcher-bearer in 1917.
In addition to the central wheel-head cross, the memorial garden incorporates a granite cross and bronze memorial plaque commemorating the Sherwood Foresters (the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment): this is Eastwood's copy of the Sherwood Foresters' plaque. At the unveiling in 1923 of the regimental memorial, the Crich Stand (Grade II*), General Smith-Dorrien had expressed his wish that each settlement in the two counties should have a plaque duplicating the details of the plaques at Derby Guildhall and St Peter's Church Nottingham commemorating the 11,409 servicemen of the regiment who died in the First World War.
The memorial garden wall includes a small bench with a plaque commemorating the support of Jane Roberts (d1922): she had raised over £100 for the Ambulance Training Corps funds. The original plaque recording the dedication to Jane Roberts was replaced in 2002.
Following the Second World War a slate tablet was added to the central wheel-head cross to commemorate one member of the Corps who died in that conflict.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Just-Us-Two know first at justustwo1013@gmail.com so they can keep track of the memorial numbers and names to avoid any duplication.