Chris Walsh best explains what's happened since, in an account written in November 2020.

"As we have had both Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day this week, I thought it might be a fitting time to post this story on a local social media community site. It is the story of how the name of a resident of Heald Green was for some strange reason left off the of the Village War memorial at the end of the 2nd World War.

Sergeant Kenneth Walmsley lived on Ash Grove, Heald Green when he enlisted for the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was killed in action on New Year’s Day 1944 when the Wellington bomber in which he was a crew member (rear gunner) crashed in Southern England on return from a night time operation over France. He was just 19 years of age. Sgt. Walmsley was cremated at South Manchester Crematorium on 7th Jan 1944 where his name is commemorated on a Memorial Wall.

It was not until much later in 1996 that Sgt. Walmsley’s name was mentioned in a book “Heald Green in Wartime”, written by local author Joan Heinekey who lived in the village, and for many years was our librarian. During her research for the book, details of Kenneth Walmsley’s death were uncovered but no reason could be found for the omission of his name from the Village War Memorial.

Still later in 2014, two members of St Catherine’s Church, Heald Green (Hazel and Paul Crofton) decided to research all the names on the Village War Memorial “to make real the names of the Long Lane Memorial”. Hazel and Paul produced two booklets, one each for the 1st and 2nd World Wars. In the one relating to the 2nd World War Kenneth Walmsley was again mentioned and, as his name was not present on the Memorial they did much research into trying to trace living relatives of Kenneth, but this was not successful.

This might have been the end of the story. However local councillors, led by Adrian Nottingham, decided to look into the possibility of adding Sgt. Walmsley’s name to the Village Memorial. This proved to be a very difficult process and involved lots of negotiation with Stockport Council, with one of the main obstacles being to prove Sgt. Walmsley had actually been a resident of the village. Lots of work was carried out by Norman Humphreys in negotiating with Stockport Council on behalf of the Heald Green Ratepayers, who provided the funds for work to be carried out by a local stone mason.

Eventually Sgt. Walmsley’s name was added to the Village Memorial in 2017 (73 years after his death) which is a credit to all those people who spent many hours making this possible.

The booklets produced by Hazel and Paul Crofton covering the stories of the names listed on the Memorial can be found on the St Catherine’s Church website and are reproduced with permission in the heritage library; WW1 and WW2 onwards."

A service of dedication and remembrance was held for Lance Corporal David Wilson Stitt on 17th October 2021 at St. Catherine's Church.   He was killed in the bombing of the Droppin' Well bar in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, in December 1982. David's name  is recorded on the top of the separate, right hand side plinth, as you face the main memorial. War Graves Commission rules prevent it being recorded on the main Memorial as he didn't die during the First or Second World Wars.