A DELAMERE war memorial which was found in pieces is being restored for free by a Winsford company.

The stone memorial, which sits next to St Peter’s Church in honour of those who died during the Second World War, is believed to have been knocked over by a car and has cracked into three sections.

A social media post showing the state of the memorial was met with devastation by the local community, who were concerned that it would not be fixed by Remembrance Sunday.

But local stonemason Michael Gilani and the staff at Excel Granite commented on the post and offered to repair the memorial free of charge.

Northwich Guardian:

“When we saw how devastated the community was, we decided to help out as it is the right thing to do,” he said.

“The memorial was erected to remember everyone who died during the Second World War and those people are the reason that we are here today.

“The damage is not too extensive and it will not cost us much to repair, so we are more than happy to do it.

“We are repairing the stone in our spare time and we were in the workshop till 9pm one evening but it is something which we are happy to do for the good of the community.”

The memorial was erected at the church in 1947, and from the reaction from local residents on social media, it is a much-cherished part of the community.

Despite the circumstances, the team are enjoying working on the 72-year-old stone and are looking forward to seeing it fully restored.

Northwich Guardian:

“It is humbling to think that the memorial was engraved all those years ago and we are the first people to work on it since then,” Michael added.

“The restoration is going really well, and we are trying to repair it without affecting the aged look it has.

“Hopefully a fence can be built around the memorial when it is finished so that this does not happen again in the future.”

Fiona Goodier, whose social media post sparked the repair project, is currently liaising with Delamere and Oakmere Parish Council regarding a protective fence.

Staff at Forest View Inn in Northwich have offered to raise money towards the fence and a collection box has been placed in the pub for donations.