Plan put forward to clean Worcestershire village's war memorial monument
Great Witley and Hillhampton Parish Council are looking to carry out the work on Great Witley's war memorial
A proposal for work to be carried out to clean a Worcestershire village's war memorial has been put forward.
Great Witley and Hillhampton Parish Council has submitted plans to Malvern Hills District Council to steam-clean the monument in Great Witley, which dates back to the 1920s, and carry out re-pointing using lime mortar.
Planning approval is required due to it being a grade two listed structure, with the parish council also wanting to use black enamel paint to 'spruce up' the engraved names on it.
The memorial carries the names of 20 parishioners who died during the First World War and also commemorates those lost in the Second World War.
In planning documents it stated that "due to the limestone nature of the memorial, the names of those lost in both world wars are becoming unrecognisable" and “the parish council felt that those people’s names should be remembered and to preserve the names, to be enamelled”.
It said steps at the bottom of the memorial need to be fixed with lime mortar but the planning application makes clear “The purpose of the clean is to conserve and protect the memorial while not removing or damaging any of the history or the memorial, it is not to restore to its original condition".
It added: “To restore to new/original condition, chemicals are required and this would be classed as restoration not conservation.”
On the plan, council chair Portia Trow said: “We feel it is important to honour the memory of those brave men from our parish who fought in the war.
“The war memorial has deteriorated so much that it is nearly impossible to read the names.
“We want to preserve the memorial and return it to its former glory in honour of everyone whose name is upon it.”