Memorial Hall. · Lower Gornal

Memorial Hall, Temple Street, Lower Gornal.

1925: Birmingham Gazette, Monday 20th April.

GORNAL WOOD MEMORIAL HALL

Erected at a cost of about £3,000, of which a balance of some £2,000 has yet to be realised, a handsome memorial hall, built largely as a result of the efforts of St. James's Parochial Council, was opened by Viscount Ednam, at Lower Gornal on Saturday.
Viscount Ednam, who was accompanied by Lady Ednam, performed the ceremony.

Building of the 'village hall' opposite St. James's Church commenced in 1925, it was to serve both as a Sunday School which it replaced on the site and as an assembly hall for meetings and concerts.

The Memorial Hall was built at a cost of £5,161 3s 8d, the funds being raised by social events, local donations and subscriptions.

The School House which was part of the old school remains, and can be seen adjacent to the present building.

1929. Birmingham Gazette, 16 September,

VILLAGE MEMORIAL

In the presence of 2,000 people who gathered yesterday outside the Memorial Hall, Lower Gornal, Mrs. Timmins, mother of the first Lower Gornal man to fall in the last war, unveiled a granite stone cross to the memory of the villages (66 in all) who fell.
The cross which has been subscribed for by the villagers, was dedicated by the Bishop of Lichfield.

A memorial was added to the frontage in 1929 initially for the local men who were killed in the Great War, 1914-1918.

Originally 66 names were inscribed and recently a further two additional names were added.
Many local family names are obvious in the list.

Another memorial was added for the Gornal men who lost their lives in the Second World War, 1939-1945.

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE MEN OF LOWER GORNAL WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918
"MAY THEY REST IN PEACE"

F. Amphlett	T. Cooper	W. Hughes	T.C. Shaw
T.W. Baker	S. Cox	J. Hyde	B. Simmons
G.T. Bishop	W. Cox	S. Hyde	E. Simmons
W. Blackham	T.V. Dann	J. Jeavons	W.W. Simmons
G. Bowen	E. Evans	B.C.K. Job	A. Smith
F.F. Bowyer	H. Greenway	J. Jones	W.B. Smith
A. Bradley	A. Guest	J.H. Jones	G. Southall
D. Bradley	W. Gutteridge	W.A. Jones	C. Timmins
S. Bradley	A. Hale	J. Jordan	J. Timmins
C. Bradshaw	W.E. Hale	W.T. Lucas M.M.	J.T. Timmins
L. Brookes	J. Harries	S. Malpass	I. Tomlinson
W. Burrows	M. Hickin	W.H. Nock	B. Wasdell
A Clarke	A. Hickman	G, Painter	J. Westwood
H. Clarke M.M.	J. Hickman	D. Parkes	C.S. Whorton
J. Clarke	T. Hill	W.H. Parkes	J. Whorton
A. Collins	I. Hopson	T. Phipps	J.W. Wilkes
W.H. Collins	W.H. Hopson	W. Powers	F.J. Worton

Two further memorial tablets were added for the 37 local men who who lost their lives in World War II, 1939-1945.

Thomas Baker	John Greathead	Bernard R. Oakley
Frank Beard	Edwin Hayes	Arthur C. Page
Joseph Beardsmore	J.T. Hickman	Ernest Parkes
Cyril Bourne	Frank Hodgetts	Howard Simmons
Joseph D. Bradley	Henry J. Hoggins	Enoch J. Smith
Raymond Burrows	Robert T.G. Holden	James L. Smith
Wilfred Caswell	John A. Hope	Oscar J. Smith D.F.C.
Frank Cooke	Joseph Hopson	Isaac Timmins
Albert E. Cooper	William R. Hopson	Raymond Timmins
George W. Day	Clifford Howarth	Arthur Watton
Frank Evans	John S. Jones	Bernard Woodall
George Flavell	Sydney R. Lowe
Reginald Flavell	John Marsh

See detailed accounts of the men of Lower Gornal from both World Wars who died here-

The Memorial Hall was popular in the 1970s for wedding receptions and other big family events, but in more recent years for jumble sales and such like.