War memorials are usually perceived as monumental objects in public spaces. Made from bronze and stone, they deliver messages intended to endure. This presentation considers the processes of creating memorials and suggests that the activity of memorial-making - as much as the objects themselves - reveals a great deal about the nature of commemoration at a national, local and personal level. Despite the conventions of memorial forms and language, a closer focus on how particular projects were realised opens up new paths for considering the ways wars are remembered.