Sir,—I agree with the Dean that we ought to have some permanent war memorial of the brave men of the city and neighbourhood who have fallen in the great war, and though I could wish that side by side with this a fund should be raised for the scholarships to Secondary schools upon which the children of men who have died should have a first claim, and though I hope that other towns and villages might consider this stimulus to higher education a far-reaching and a helpful form of remembering the august dead, I cannot but wish that some such active body as the Citizens’ League could see their way to a house-to-house canvass for a fund to erect a really beautiful building which should serve the double purpose of enshrining the memory of the dead and being a great public benefit to the whole city. Everybody to whom I speak admits the need of such a hall for public gatherings, for music, lectures, etc. I understand that the Birmingham citizens have a scheme of this kind for a hall to be used chiefly for music. The hall they contemplate is to seat 4,000 people; a hall to seat 2,000 would be ample for the needs of Carlisle. At Birmingham, I gather the suggestion is to have an entrance hall, open at all times to the public, in which the names of the fallen would be inscribed, opening into a larger building which would be built entirely with a view to its beauty and acoustic properties. Those who know the great use that is made of the fine organ in the Colston Hall at Bristol every Saturday might realise what an education to the whole city organ recitals for the people can be…. At some time or other there will surely be adequate municipal buildings in Carlisle. Why should not this memorial hall be a nucleus of the scheme. I cannot do much, but to prove my interest I shall be willing to contribute £100 towards such an effort.
(Carlisle Journal, 1 April 1919, p. 5)