ON CHRISTMAS Day, you published a letter from a Mr Somers-Cocks, of Goodworth Clatford, asking that (in support of a previous letter) Andover war memorial be restored to its original location in the High Street.

In his letter he stated that it was a mystery why it was moved in the first place, however, there is no doubt as to the reason why it was moved.

Indeed, this very newspaper published the details last July in the run up the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the First World War.

Today, our council would like you to believe that the memorial was moved at the request of the British Legion, because it was being desecrated.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Andover Borough Council – as they were at the time – minutes from the 1950s show that the memorial was actually removed to the churchyard to allow for the extension of the guildhall, further down the high street.

It was only after that decision had been approved and ratified, that two single complaints, received more than two years apart, of market traders leaving boxes on the base of the memorial, were given as the actual reason it needed to be moved.

Of course, the extension to the guildhall never happened, but the memorial was still removed, the result of a belligerent council being unwilling or unable to back down in the face of overwhelming opposition to the memorial’s relocation.

Undoubtedly, the memorial should be returned to its original position, which was chosen by the relatives of the dead as the place they wanted their men honoured in the town.

However, it would take someone at TVBC who actually cared about either our town or its military heritage – rather than their own selfish political ambitions – in order to achieve that, and sadly we don’t currently have anyone in office like that.

Dr Bob Roberts, Millway Road, Andover.