Express & Star

Falklands memorial event tonight will remember man from Wolverhampton who did not return from conflict

A Willenhall-based community group will hold an event tonight which will commemorate those lost in the Falklands war including a man from Wolverhampton who did not to return alive from the conflict.

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Adrian Anslow, aged 20, photographed in 1981

Members of Short Heath Lest We Forget CIC will hold the memorial at Essington Rugby Club, the village that has the closest war memorial to the home of Adrian Anslow.

The 20-year-old lost his life while serving on the Atlantic Conveyor, a British Merchant Navy ship which was sunk after being hit by two exocet missiles in May 1982.

A director of a company in the area who heard about the work of the group Lyndon Whitehouse took five wooden crosses and a wreath with mini Falklands scarves on them to the island on Remembrance weekend last year. He also took a letter from Adrian Anslow's mother and place it at the memorial to the ship.

He will give a presentation at the meeting, with Deputy Lieutenant Martin Levermore MBE representing King Charles III also present.

The group have also ordered two separate benches, one for installation at Lane Head War memorial in Short Heath and the other in the Falkland Island, with a chain from both benches framed with a picture of them.

They will be on display at the meeting and reports on the work of the group will be heard, including a project around Veterans mental health.

John Elwell, a director of Shorth Heath Lest We Forget said members of the group were really looking forward to the evening.

He said: "Our aim when we set the group up was to do something to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands War, we never thought it would grow as it has.

"We truly want to thank everyone that has played a part in it and hope to see many of them tonight where it will be a poignant event based around those events and will also showcase the work we are undertaking around them."

Tickets for the event at Essington Rugby Club, High Hill are £5 on the door and it starts at 7pm.