Campaign to honour all Rotherham's fallen soldiers

Sally Moffett hopes to put the name, age, place of death and regimental badge for each on small wooden crosses to be displayed at Clifton Park.

She said: “I was selling poppies in Morrison’s last year when a man started telling me about his father, who had been killed during the Second World War just three days before he was born.

“He told me his name was on the memorial and that got me thinking about trying to gather as much information as I could about all the names on there.

“Then I thought it would be wonderful for every soldier in the borough to be properly recognised and remembered.”

Sally, of Rawmarsh, and son Anthony began by looking at the 1,270 names on the Rotherham cenotaph at Clifton Park.

She said: “I then thought I should have a look at the names on memorials across Rotherham, which totals more than 4,800 names.

“We’ve identified and got full details for about 94 per cent of the names, but we would love people to get in touch and give information about the ones we don’t know much about.”

The scale of the project means Sally is focusing on the First World War this year and hopes to move on to the Second World War in 2019.

She also hopes Rotherham folk will support the project by sponsoring the crosses and donating to the British Legion.

Cllr Ian Jones, Rotherham Borough Council’s armed forces champion, said Sally’s project would be invaluable in documenting the area’s military history.

He added: “To be able to say we will be able to know as much as we possibly can about every name on every memorial across Rotherham is absolutely incredible.

“This is an amazing project and I’m looking forward to seeing hundreds of crosses on display later this year.”

Sally also attends Knit and Natter sessions at Rotherham Market, where a knitted poppy cascade is in progress.

Anyone wanting to become involved in the project can visit her there on Tuesdays between 1.30pm and 3pm or call 07396 065637.