Forbury plinth for trooper

Maxwell Kusi Obodum • Published 11 Dec 2009 09:00 0 Comments

THE Forbury Gardens has been earmarked for a £60,000 monument to honour Reading's only Victoria Cross winner.

Both Reading MPs, Martin Salter and Rob Wilson, will be part of a fundraising committee being formed next month to build a bronze statue marking the outstanding bravery of First World War soldier Trooper Frederick Potts.

The Berkshire Yeomanry soldier fought in the Gallipoli campaign in August 1915 where he was caught between the Turkish enemy lines trenches with fellow Reading trooper Arthur Andrews who was too badly injured to move.

But after two days pinned down by enemy fire under scorching sunlight and in freezing night temperatures, 22-year-old Frederick, despite a gunshot wound in his thigh, adapted a shovel as a form of sledge to drag his comrade to safety under heavy enemy fire.

The Forbury Gardens proposal came after a meeting last Friday with military historians, Reading Mayor Cllr Fred Pugh, Trooper Potts' granddaughter Anne Ames and Arthur's grandson Chris Andrews, both from Earley.

Cllr Pugh also proposed asking next month's full council meeting to provide £5,000 to start off the fund for the memorial, which will commemorate the fallen of the Berkshire Yeomanry. After paying for the statue, it is estimated annual maintenance costs are likely to be £1,000.

Mr Salter, who is drawing up a list of potential private donors and will organise fundraising activities, told the Civic Centre meeting: "We have an opportunity to recognise and commemorate valour and bravery and we can put a fantastic tribute to our only Victoria Cross recipient."

After the meeting Mrs Ames said: "I'm very pleased that after so many years there is going to be something to recognise the sacrifice of the Berkshire Yeomanry, using Troopers Potts and Andrews as a focal point."

Fred Potts, of Edgehill Street, Katesgrove, worked as a tailor after the Great War in Alpine Street and died in 1943. Arthur Andrews, a bicycle repair man, died in 1980.

Currently the only tributes to Fred are a small plaque in Brock Barracks and at Katesgrove Primary School, Dorothy Street, where he was a former pupil.

Reporter and historian Graham McKechnie reunited the families for the BBC Berkshire documentary 'Fred Potts: the hero with the hero with the shovel' which was broadcast last month.

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