I WAS much taken with the cedar sculpture by Chris Wood commemorating the tragic stand of the Monmouthshire Regiment at Ypres one hundred years ago.

It was obviously much-influenced by the painting which once hung at the head of the great curved staircase in the old library building, long since demolished along with so much more, in Dock Street.

This dramatic painting made a big impression on me as a child; almost as much as the brass studs which were strategically embedded in the long, polished balustrade to prevent small boys sliding down it – not that they altogether succeeded in that attempt.

To us that balustrade presented a challenge and we were up for it, just as were those who paid the ultimate price at Frezenberg Ridge, “Surrender, be damned” indeed. This year famously celebrates multi-centenaries of Agincourt and Waterloo. The 'Monmouths' at Ypres deserve no less.

Julian R Powell, Larch Grove, Malpas, Newport