Our main image this week shows the Remembrance Sunday ceremony of November 1952 with members of the armed services gathered around the cenotaph to the east of St George’s Hall.
The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Alderman Albert Morrow, preceded by his attendants carrying the civic wreath, solemnly passes an RAF Sergeant with reversed arms.
The Second World War had ended only seven years earlier and meat and food rationing were still in place, only to be finally lifted in July 1954. Parts of Liverpool were still being rebuilt after the Luftwaffe raids.
The Liverpool Cenotaph, shown in our modern image from the Remembrance service of 2017, was designed by architect Lionel Budden with carvings by Liverpool sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith.
It was unveiled by Edward Stanley, the 17th Earl of Derby, at precisely 11.00am on November 11th 1930 to mark the armistice ending the First World War in 1918.
The cenotaph itself consists of a rectangular block of Stancliffe stone supporting bronze relief statues on the longer sides. On the northwest face are marching troops; on the southeast are mourners laying flowers and wreaths.
On the shorter side faces are circular bronze shields depicting the Liverpool coat of arms and the dates of the two World Wars.
Remembrance services this Sunday may be restricted by the Covid lockdown, but their poignancy and dignity will remain undiminished.
Hundreds of pictures from an unforgettable decade are packed into Clive Hardy’s fascinating book Around Merseyside in the 1960s. It’s available now from our online shop or by calling the order hotline on 01928 503777.
