Over the past few months members of the Heckmondwike Royal British Legion (RBL) branch have achieved a full clean and restoration of the granite war memorial in Green Park, thanks to funding from Kirklees Council.

Situated in the park just off Northgate in Heckmondwike Town Centre, the memorial commemorates soldiers who lost their lives in World War I, World War II and the Korean War.

After being neglected for several years, the RBL are now delighted to announce that the memorial has been restored to its former glory after receiving a full clean and service by Tomlinson Memorials, a highly skilled and trusted stonemason company from Wigan.

Rosemary Hartley, vice chair of the Heckmondwike Royal British Legion branch, said: "I really am over the moon, It's been such a big thing for the branch to achieve".

"Originally we got an estimate privately from a company that our chairman knew. We sent this off to Kirklees Council asking for it to be actioned.

“This is when we were made aware of the Memorials Fund within the council, which pays for memorials to be upkept.

"This year we have been fortunate to have been allocated some of the funds from this pot.”

As well as cleaning the memorial, Tomlinson Memorials have also repointed the memorial, repaired the metal ornamentation, painted the railing that surrounds the memorial, re-painted the lettering and placed the Burma Star Association plaque back on the memorial.

Rosemary added: "Originally, we used to have a brass Burma Star plaque.

“However, in the past it had become damaged, but from some local contacts “We were given a generous donation to replace it”.

"It's nice from my point of view that the person who donated the money will see that it is actually in position where it should be now.

On behalf of the branch "I would like to thank Julian Falconer [Kirklees Council], and the stonemasons involved".

"Thank you also to all the volunteers who have helped with the poppy appeal this year.”

In response the positive feedback from the Heckmondwike RBL branch, Councillor Naheed Mather, cabinet member for environment and climate said: “Kirklees Council has the honour of being responsible for the maintenance of 39 of the war memorials within Kirklees and all those memorials are inspected each year.