In Nottingham after the Great War, there still existed serious overcrowding and 30,000 houses without water, gas, electricity and decent sanitation. A programme of inner city slum clearance was carried out between the wars: to re-house inner city residents thus displaced, Nottingham City Council built an impressive 17,500 council houses, about a quarter of which included Aspley, Bells Lane, Broxtowe, Denewood Crescent and Stockhill. This huge undertaking followed national guidelines for ‘Garden Cities’ which decreed that suburban housing should be based on the traditional countryside cottage with open spaces, gardens, parks and wide roads in addition to modern domestic amenities. (Source: Blogger.com)

Construction in Aspley did not begin until 1928 and was completed before Britain went to war in September 1939. Perhaps eleven years was insufficient time for a fully integrated community to develop which may explain why many of those commemorated on this Virtual memorial remained anonymous and not included on the St Margaret’s Church plaque. It also seems possible that ecclesiastical authorities were aware only of the 37 men on their tablet either because of declining inter-war church attendance or maybe the large nearby Methodist chapel attracted many Aspley worshippers.

David Nunn