Memorials of war

There are war memorials all over Staffordshire. Even just as simple records of names, they tell the saddest story. In one rural village I know, a simple board in the church records the deaths of fifty men in the Great War - which must have been a huge loss to that small comunity.

The one in the photo, in Hanley, is one of the largest in the county, yet I would guess most office-workers would walk past it not noticing it, simply because it is one of those permanent features that we all, after time, ignore. But, nevertheless, they shouldn't be moved out of town centres, or pulled down, just because we largely disregard them. War memorials, like old churches (and pubs!), are one of the few ways we all maintain our common, continuous history.