Researchers trace the story behind every name on war memorial

The women, who meet on Wednesday mornings at Houghton Racecourse Action Point, are hoping to produce a booklet in time for next year’s centenary of the start of the war.

They are hoping to include details of every man who is commemorated on the town’s cenotaph in St Michael’s churchyard.

Fay Judson, the six-strong group’s IT co-ordinator, said the women came up with the idea after spending two years studying their own family trees.

“These ladies have done an immense amount of hard work,” Fay said.

“There are 326 names on the memorial, and we’ve go about two-thirds so far.

“But we are struggling with the Joneses and Smiths and Wilsons, because there is an awful lot of them.

“So we are looking for family members, whose relatives’ names are on the memorial, to help us complete the project.”

The group can be contacted by email at [email protected].

An index of war memorials across the region, both surviving or no longer in existence, is being put together as part of a separate effort by the North East War Memorials Project, which can be found online at www.newmp.org.uk.