Latest news with #ReverendAndreaLeonard
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
The Repair Shop approached to fix stolen Chatham WW1 memorial
A Kent priest says she has asked BBC programme The Repair Shop to help restore her church's damaged World War One Church Luton in Chatham reported to the police on Saturday that two plaques commemorating 163 people from the parish who died in the war were Police recovered both plaques from separate Essex scrapyards by Thursday but one is substantially in charge the Reverend Andrea Leonard told BBC Radio Kent she had "applied to The Repair Shop to see if they might be able to help" repair the damage. "We will definitely either have it mended or get a replacement at some point because that plaque can't just disappear forever, just because of someone's thoughtlessness," she 93kg (205lbs) plaques, which are 105 years old, are now back in possession of the church, but one has been partly cut up."It will be a jigsaw for someone and a bit of restoration work, but I'm sure it must be possible," Ms Leonard said. Eighth arrest made Kent Police arrested seven men aged between 22 and 51 from the Dartford and Medway areas in connection with the theft, who have since been bailed.A 38-year-old man from Chatham became the eight person arrested over the matter on have also seized a Range Rover, the force Alanya Spiller said Kent Police had been "really focused on recovering these two items" and work on "bringing those responsible for the theft to justice" was Leonard praised the efforts of said: "Some of them worked four hours beyond their shift to get that plaque."They rushed to a scrapyard and just stopped it from going on a shipment elsewhere."
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Arrest as Chatham church's WW1 plaque found at Essex scrapyard
Two men have been arrested following the theft of two WW1 plaques from a Kent war memorial, police have military memorial plaques disappeared from the grounds of Christ Church Luton in Chatham between 22:00 BST on Friday and 10:00 on Police said one of the plaques was recovered from a scrapyard in Essex on force said it has arrested a 26-year-old man and a 25-year-old man, both from the Dartford area. Christ Church Luton's priest in charge, the Reverend Andrea Leonard, told BBC Radio Kent on Thursday that she remains hopeful the other plaque will be said: "Hats off to the person, who wants to obviously remain anonymous, but who had the integrity to phone the police and say 'I've got something here that you want'."He actually spoke to me and he said he looked at the list and thought 'Those poor lads that gave everything, they don't deserve this'."Kent Police said it is trying to find the second plaque and appealed for anyone with information about the missing plaques to get in touch. The plaques commemorate 163 people from the Chatham area who died in WW1 and each weigh memorial, which has been in place for 105 years, is "priceless" to the parish and relatives of the soldiers, Ms Leonard believes there has not yet been time for the still-missing plaque to be melted down, but that they will find a suitable replacement if they have to as "it just wouldn't be right" to a have a memorial with names missing."It was terrible when we discovered that they were gone," she said. "We just could not believe it because it's not only the church, it's the whole wider community."
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Military memorial plaques stolen from Chatham churchyard
Police are appealing for information after two military memorial plaques were stolen from a churchyard in incident happened at Christ Church in Luton Road, Chatham, between 22:00 BST on Friday and 22:00 on Alanya Spiller said the memorials had been in place at the church lychgate for more than 100 years."Their loss has had a considerable impact on the local community," she said. Priest in charge, Reverend Andrea Leonard, said community members had expressed their sadness at the loss of the plaques, which included the names of said the theft, which was discovered by church gardener Jonathan Pout, as an example of "pure greed".Anyone with information about the thefts is urged to contact Kent Police.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Britain's most callous crooks: Iron thieves hunted by police after stealing two metal military memorial plaques from churchyard
Callous iron theives are being hunted by police after stealing two metal military memorials from a villiage churchyard. Devastated parishioners have been left in tears after the plaques - which held the name of the town's 150 First World War heroes for more than 100 years - were ripped from the wooden gateway. Thieves are said to have carried out the cruel operation under the cover of night, with locals fearing they will be melted down into scrap metal. Jonathan Pout, the head gardener of Christ Church Luton, in Chatham, Kent, was horrified to discover the bare spaces on Saturday, May 24. Now the church is offering a £500 reward for information which leads to their return. A spokesperson for the church said: 'We are beyond sad to announce that our first world war memorials have been stolen from the lychgate. 'For over a hundred years these have been in place, honouring those from this area who gave everything for us to be free. 'If anyone knows anything about this desecration, please do contact us.' They added: 'We have very kindly been offered £500 as a reward for information given which leads to the retrieval of our memorial plaques.' Devastated parishioners have been left in tears after the plaques - which held the name of the town's 150 First World War heroes for more than 100 years - were ripped from the wooden gateway Reverend Andrea Leonard, 65, who has headed up the church since 2015, said the plaques had been taken under the cover of darkness on Friday night. The plaques were secured to the walls with security bolts - leading Reverend Leonard to believe they were stolen by someone who knew what they were doing, as opposed to opportunists. She said: 'There were definitely tears. It's part of the church, it's part of the community, and in a way it's part of people's relatives. 'People say 'oh my great uncle was on that list', and people recognise the names on there. 'If the church had been broken into and a computer stolen I'd have said 'oh, we can get another one'. 'But this is desecration. It's horrible. The fact that someone can have that lack of respect for people that gave everything for us to be free is just shocking.' Following a donation, the church is offering a £500 reward for any information which could lead to recovery of the memorials, which immortalised the names of over 150 army and navy soldiers. Failing recovery, Reverend Leonard says the plaques will be replaced with replicas made of less valuable materials. She said: 'Because we're a military area, we've already had veterans' associations saying that they would help us with fundraising to make replacements that are not worth stealing, made of something different. 'We've got enough photographs as well to have all the names, so that's not going to be an issue, I don't think.' The reverend now believes the plaques are going to be used for scrap metal, and may already be destroyed. She added: 'Initially, after the shock had settled in, people were very angry. The whole community is very angry as well. 'But, as a Christian community we have to respond in a different way - we don't want to make a lynch mob to go out and find someone. 'We've got to work on committing that person to justice. We want to see justice done, but we don't want to be vindictive.'
