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The Chairman welcomed Mr Wentzel, who was taking the place of Mr Cronje as representative of the Ambassador of South Africa.
Matters Arising from the 494th Meeting of the Commission
Details of the estimated cost to move Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery and Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery to El Alamein; publication of the 49th Annual Report and Statement of Accounts of the Commission; report on the visit by Mr David Griffiths to the French and Belgian Areas in the Northern Region; account of the Gardeners’ Service at Westminster Abbey; details of Vice-Chairman’s visit to the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean Areas, including cemeteries at Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, Mudros and Bralo, and Phaleron War Cemetery; account of the Canadian pilgrimage to France and Belgium to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
Estimates 1969/70 (F 2210)
Memorandum on the Estimates for 1968/69 and 1969/70; brief explanation of the main factors affecting the Estimates, including increases in the current year’s Estimates and the position at Alexandria; details of Schedule 1 with reference to Staff Expenses, Travelling Expenses, Administrative Expenses, Horticultural Maintenance and Structural Maintenance.
Report of the 535th Meeting of the Finance Committee
Review of the organisation of the Commission’s administrative areas, including proposals to phase out the Southern Region Headquarters and to move the Commission’s Head Office from Central London to a new location, with specific reference to Maidenhead; report on the Secretary’s visit to Australia, New Zealand and India to discuss the organisation of the Eastern and Pacific Regions; recommended expenditure on structural maintenance at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, which included the repair of damages caused during the Second World War; recommended expenditure on further rehabilitation work at Jerusalem War Cemetery, including the restoration of the caretaker’s quarters, boundary walls, entrance feature, gates, paving, Cross of Sacrifice, Stone of Remembrance, pergolas and collective memorials; report on experimental repair work at the Thiepval Memorial.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Superannuation Scheme (1952) – Amendments to the Rules (ES 42/17)
Modification to the Rules of the Scheme in order that the Superannuation Fund could be managed and administered in two parts, Part I dealing exclusively with pensions and Part II dealing exclusively with lump-sum gratuities.
Commonwealth-Foreign Joint Committees
Appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel V. Bruneau, Ministere de la Defense Nationale, Service Social de l’Armee, and M. Charles Waersegger, Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Belgian Official Members of the Commonwealth-Belgian Joint Committee; appointment of Mr I. W. Robertson, First Secretary and Consul, Canadian Embassy, Copenhagen, as Commonwealth Member of the Commonwealth-Danish Joint Committee; appointment of The Right Honourable Christopher Soames, United Kingdom Ambassador at Paris, as Commonwealth Honorary Member, General de Corps d’Armee Andre Meltz, Gouverneur Militaire de Paris, as French Honorary Member, and Monsieur Pierre Kerlan, Sous-Directeur, Service des Relations Internationales, Ministere des Finances et des Affairs Economiques, as French Official Member of the Commonwealth-French Joint Committee; appointment of Sir Ronald Walker, Australian Ambassador at Bonn, as Commonwealth Honorary Member, and Herr Regierungsdirektor Gerbert Neubauer, German Federal Ministry of Finance, as German Official Member of the Commonwealth-German-French Joint Committee; appointment of Mr W. R. Crocker, Australian Ambassador at Rome, as Commonwealth Honorary Member of the Commonwealth-Italian Joint Committee; appointment of Miss W. E. A. Veth, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Netherlands Official Member of the Commonwealth-Netherlands Joint Committee; appointment of Mr C. R. Ashwin, Counsellor, Australian Embassy, Bangkok, as Commonwealth Member of the Commonwealth-Thai Joint Committee.
Approval of the classification of the 523 war graves enumerated in List No. 17 of war graves in the United Kingdom recommended for classification as “not within the Commission’s control”.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Hammersmith Old Cemetery, London
Approval of the proposed commemoration of seven Commonwealth war burials in Hammersmith Old Cemetery on the First World War Screen Wall in the same cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Lilleshall (St. Michael) Churchyard, Shropshire
Approval of the proposed commemoration of one Commonwealth war burial in Lilleshall (St. Michael) Churchyard on a special memorial headstone, bearing a suitable superscription, that was to be erected in the Second World War plot in Shrewsbury General Cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Waterlooville (St. George) Churchyard, Hampshire
Approval of the proposed commemoration of one Commonwealth war burial in Waterlooville (St. George) Churchyard on a special memorial headstone, bearing a suitable superscription, that was to be erected in the First World War plot in Southampton (Hollybrook) Cemetery.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Ebbw Vale Cemetery, Monmouthshire
Approval of the proposed commemoration of five Commonwealth war burials in Ebbw Vale Cemetery by re-erecting the headstones on a suitable site near the entrance of the cemetery with a small stone memorial bearing an explanatory inscription.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom, Airdrie (St. Joseph’s) Roman Catholic Cemetery, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Approval of the proposed commemoration of 12 Commonwealth war burials in the old section of Airdrie (St. Joseph’s) Roman Catholic Cemetery by re-erecting the headstones in the new section of the cemetery with a small stone memorial bearing an explanatory inscription.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom: Five Cemeteries in Northern Ireland
Approval of the proposed commemoration of one Commonwealth war burial in Acton Church of Ireland Churchyard, one Commonwealth war burial in Ballycor Old Graveyard, one Commonwealth war burial in Camus Cemetery, one Commonwealth war burial in Donacavey Old Graveyard, and one Commonwealth war burial in Mullagh Old Graveyard on special memorial headstones to be erected in the First World War plot in Belfast City Cemetery.
Execution of Documents
Transfer of the rights of the grave in which a war casualty and his father were buried from the Commission to the family so that it could become a family grave.
General Notes
Report that the Belgian police apprehended a vandal responsible for acts of desecration in cemeteries over the last two years; account of visit by Mr Andrew Carnwath, Chairman of the Trustees of the Imperial War Graves Endowment Fund, to cemeteries in Canada and Japan.
Other Business
Details of the legacy bequeathed to the Commission’s General Fund by Mrs Hannah Elizabeth Watts; provision of an illustrated booklet on Ambon War Cemetery to Commission Members; announcement that Mr H. E. Jenner, the Commission’s Senior Architect, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects; announcement that Colonel Alan Chambers, representative of the High Commissioner of Canada, was attending his last Commission Meeting.
ATTENDEES:
Admiral Sir Guy Grantham GCB CBE DSO (Vice-Chairman of the Commission)
Colonel Alan Chambers DSO OBE (Representing the High Commissioner for Canada)
Mr F. C. Boyle (Representing the High Commissioner for Australia)
Mr Paul Cotton (Representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand)
Mr S. W. Wentzel (Representing the Ambassador of South Africa)
Major B. N. Satya Murti (Representing the High Commissioner for India)
Mr J. W. T. Pritchard (Representing the Minister of Public Building and Works)
Sir Arthur Rucker KCMG CB CBE
Mr David Griffiths MP
General Sir John Anderson GBE KCB DSO
Sir Robert Black GCMG OBE
Mr Verner Wylie
Miss Joan Woodgate CBE RRC
Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Cheshire GBE KCB
SECRETARY
Mr W. J. Chalmers CBE (Director-General)
ADVISER
Mr H. D. Morgan MSc (Eng.) MICE (Consulting Engineer)
Also in attendance:
Mr W. Wynne Mason MC ((Assistant Secretary) Director of External Relations and Records)
Mr A. K. Pallot ((Assistant Secretary) Director of Finance and Establishments)
Brigadier K. F. Daniell CBE BA (Director of Works)
Mr H. L. Simmons LLB (Legal Adviser and Solicitor)
Mr W. F. W. Harding OBE BSc (Hort.) (Chief Horticultural Officer)
Mr A. E. V. Shephard |