Refurbishing Edmonton's Beverly Cenotaph an uphill battle - Action News
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Edmonton

Refurbishing Edmonton's Beverly Cenotaph an uphill battle

For close to 100 years the Beverly Cenotaph has stood at 118th Avenue and 40th Street as a tribute to those who fought and died in World War I and the conflicts that followed. Now the race is on to finish the $415,000 renovations in time for the Remembrance Day service.

Race to be ready for Remembrance Day service at Edmontons historic Beverly Cenotaph

Update: Beverly Cenotaph

8 years ago
Duration 3:20
Joe Luce, chairman of the Beverly Memorial Cenotaph Committee, gives us an update on the renovations at the Beverly Cenotaph in Edmonton.

Joe Luce watches construction workers at the historic Beverly Cenotaph at 118th Avenue and 40th Street.

"Right now they're doing the brick work for the walkway," the Beverly Memorial Cenotaph Committee chairmanand former military member said.

"We've opened up the whole park.Before it was all covered in shrubs. Now it's opened up and it's going to look great when it's all done."
Time and the elements took a toll on the Beverly Cenotaph. (Beverly Memorial Cenotaph Committee)

Luceand the committee havebeen working for the last decade to refurbish the crumblinghistoric monument.

The Beverly Cenotaph was official unveiled on Oct. 17, 1920 making it one of the oldest cenotaphs in Alberta.

Less than two years after the end of World War I, the monument honoured the 170 people from Beverly, then a coal-mining town of just 1,000 people, who served in the war.
Former military member Joe Luce is the chairman of the Beverly Memorial Cenotaph Committee. (John Robertson)

Names of the 17 Beverly soldiers who died in the war are still etched into the granite pillar.

"I find that quite amazing that it took them two years after the great war to put it up and it took us 10 years to get it revitalized,"Luce said.

He admits itwas an uphill battle to raise the required$415,000, clear approvals, and deal with weather-related construction delays, but now the end is in sight.
An image of a service held in 1933 at the Beverly Cenotaph. (City of Edmonton Archives (ea-160-1168))

"Other than the sod that will happen next spring everything will be ready to do our ceremony this year," Luce said.

The ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m., Nov. 11, with a non-denominational service at the Maranatha Christian Reform Church at 11905 47 Street.

At 10:20 a.m. the parade leaves the church and marches down 118th Avenue to the cenotaph where the service will conclude.

"It's important to keep something like this going," Luce said.
What the refurbished Beverly Cenotaph grounds will look like after landscaping is complete in May of 2017. (Beverly Memorial Cenotaph Committee)

You can see more from the neighbourhood of Beverly this week on Our Edmonton at 10 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday and Monday on CBC TV.