St Albans war memorial to be refurbished

THE campaign to restore St Albans war memorial has received a welcome boost after agreement was reached to take action to clean up the monument.

Plans to seek specialist advice about the work needed to refurbish the Grade II listed monument on St Peter’s Street has received backing from all political parties on St Albans council.

Ashley Wade, 24, who is behind the campaign to restore the memorial, welcomed the news.

He said: “I am very happy with the result and that the many people that died for our freedom are finally being shown the respect that they deserve. The cleaning and maintenance is long overdue and I’m so pleased that the council are putting future plans in place to keep the memorial clean and the names preserved.”

Ashley thanked everyone who supported the campaign, which had a Facebook page and received coverage in the Herts Advertiser and local radio stations.

He had been angered and upset when visiting the memorial to pay his respects to his great grandfather to see that his name had faded. Ashley called on the council to take action to ensure future generations could continue to honour the sacrifices made.

At the time, the district council’s spokesperson said the memorial would be inspected next year by a specialist.

But Cllr Beric Read, portfolio holder for community engagement and localism, confirmed at a meeting of cabinet this week that the council was seeking specialist advice on the maintenance of the war memorial and would also be looking at the condition of other war memorials in the district with a view to setting up a maintenance programme.