Latest news with #warmemorial
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Britain's most callous crooks' ARRESTED: Vicar celebrating after metal military memorial plaque returned... but one is still missing and more 'iron thieves are on the loose'
A vicar has been left stunned after one of two stolen bronze war memorial plaques was dramatically recovered by police, as officers confirm two have been arrested. The 90kg plaque, which vanished from the entrance of a Kent churchyard in a heartless raid, was found dumped at a scrapyard in Essex on Wednesday. In emotional scenes, four officers carried the historic tribute - dedicated to 150 local men who died in the First World War - back to Christ Church Luton in Chatham, where a jubilant Reverend Angela Leonard, 65, is now deciding where to reinstall it. 'I just can't believe it. I had thought it would have been cut into pieces by now,' she said. 'The police have been so good. We just hope we can get the other plaque returned so we have them both back. I honestly just can't believe it.' But while one plaque is home, the hunt is still on for its missing twin, with detectives warning of more 'iron thieves on the loose' after the church was targeted in a night-time raid that has left the community reeling. Police confirmed two people had been arrested in connection with the theft as the search continues for the second piece. A Kent Police spokesperson said: 'Officers investigating the reported theft of two memorial plaques from a Chatham churchyard at around 10pm on Friday 23 May 2025, have detained two men. 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. Jonathan Pout, the head gardener of Christ Church Luton, in Chatham, Kent, was horrified to discover the bare spaces on Saturday, May 24. The retired engineer told MailOnline: 'I am the one who discovered they were gone so you found the right man. 'It was on Saturday morning at 10am, I came to do some bits in the garden and as I walked through the gate I noticed some wood on the floor and I thought 'strange'. 'Then I looked up and saw the plaques were gone. 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 'Thankfully within a matter of minutes there were other people here with me, and within the hour we'd posted it all over the website and the police had been contacted. 'It was very strange, I must admit, you just never expect items like that to be stolen. 'They're not just in the church grounds, they also hold a lot of significance, a lot of sentimental value. 'The immediate community have been informed too and they are a little bit disgusted with the thieves actions. I think initially people just felt rage.' The family of one of the war heroes offered £500 as a reward for its return after hearing about the church's loss. The plaques had been a focal point for remembrance day commemorations, with crosses and poppies left below the names. They had recently been refurbished and restored to their original position on the lynchgate. Mr Pout suspects the plaques were taken with a crowbar and said they would have been recognisable had the crooks tried to sell them on. Mr Pout suspects the plaques were taken with a crowbar and said they would have been recognisable had the crooks tried to sell them on 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 former missionary said: 'At first it was a terrible shock, we all felt violated and very sad - there were tears on Saturday. 'On Saturday morning there is a group of volunteers who come and do the garden and cleaning and stuff, so we all came in. 'I arrived a bit later and everyone was just stunned because you can't quite get a handle on who would do something like that. 'I've looked up the price of brass and it's £3 a kilo, suppose they're both around 25 kilos, that's £150, but to us they're priceless. 'I think what has shocked people, and I've said his before is, if it was a laptop you'd just think 'oh I'll get another one' but this is something different. 'It just feels like, well, it is desecration, isn't it really of a memorial. That's not the Christian way, you know, we have a certain example, and if everyone forgave like that, they wouldn't have been a war in the first place.' 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. Failing recovery, Reverend Leonard says the plaques will be replaced with replicas made of less valuable materials. The current church was built in 1983 and replaced a Victorian church which had to be demolished due to subsidence. Jennifer Reddich, 56, was left heartbroken by the actions as her great uncle lost his life in the war and she often went to the plaques to remember him. She said: 'The people who took the war memorial are really bad people because they are disgracing the people who fought for our country. 'I have got family who died within the wars, and they should be remembered, not stolen. 'It is really upsetting and it is really bad what they've done. It's disgraceful that they've taken war memorial, it's absolutely disgusting. 'On Remembrance Day they do services there and now there's nothing they can do them with.' Alex Ayears, 37, who has lived in the area for almost eight years and attends the church on special occasions including Christmas, said: 'It's horrible, it's a real, real shame because they've been there for so long. 'I had hoped they'd be a bit too hot to handle and we'd get them back. She added: 'I can't think of anything else like this that's happened around here. 'You think even the lowest people wouldn't sink that low.' Churchgoer Dawn Crook, 56, who attends the church every Sunday, said: 'It's awful, it's disgusting, I can't believe someone would do that. 'Those soldiers died for our county - I hope they catch them. 'It quite emotional really because they've just put in a grave for a local soldier - and now the memorial has been taken. 'I felt very upset when I heard, so was the whole church family, because we love our church and it's just disgusting that someone would do that.' And Leigha Pope, 19, added: 'It's just outrageous, it's disgusting. A war plaque memorial was stolen, it's an outrage. 'I haven't really heard anything else, it's just disgusting.' 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.'
BBC News
14-05-2025
- BBC News
Worcester World War Two memorial vandalised for third time
A World War Two war memorial in Worcester may never return to its home, after being vandalised for a third Meco Memorial Sculpture in St John's remembers the victims of the only fatal German attack on the city. The Meco works were targeted in a bombing raid in 1940, killing seven leaf-shaped sculpture has been removed for repair after being pulled down, but councillor Richard Udall is no longer confident that it would be safe to return to its original place."It makes me feel extremely angry and very frustrated. And I know from speaking to some of the relatives of the of the victims, they feel very hurt," he said. Mr Udall added: "It is shocking that a war memorial, which commemorated those who gave their lives fighting fascism in the second world war on the home front, has been vandalized in such a disrespectful way."The sculpture was unveiled in 2023 but was removed from Sanctuary Park in the run-up to the 80th anniversary of VE Day, leaving an empty space surrounded by benches. "There was no information about the bombing whatsoever but Worcester people knew about it, they knew people who had died or had been injured in the bombing. "So it was very significant in Worcester, and especially in St John's," he Udall said he hoped those responsible "didn't know"."The only other and much less charitable explanation is they do know and don't care but I would hope that's not the case."A Worcester City Council spokesperson said: "The sculpture has been temporarily moved while the damage is assessed. We are assessing future options for the placement of the sculpture." Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Work starts on Spalding war memorial restoration
Restoration work on a war memorial in Lincolnshire has by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the World War One memorial in Spalding was completed in 1922 and commemorates people connected with the town who lost their lives in the years of both world wars were later added to the memorial, which is in Ayscoughfee project, funded by South Holland District Council, is expected to be completed in time for Remembrance Day in November. The five-month project will include the restoration of memorial panels, flooring, the ceiling and roof tiles on the Grade I listed Bingham, the council's portfolio for assets, said work to restore the "hugely significant" monument had been a "long time in the making". He added: "This is a precise and expert process and, whilst the work will take several months to complete, we are confident it will secure the protection and prestige of the monument."Elizabeth Sneath, the portfolio holder for conservation and heritage, said: "We must do everything we can to protect it and the memories of those commemorated within it for many generations to come." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
New Essex Cricket Club's war memorial remembers former players
RAF pilots, Army officers and a night-time fire warden are among the players remembered on a cricket club's new war will be unveiled at Essex Cricket Club's Chelmsford ground and lists the names of 16 cricketers who died during both world museum honorary curator David Pracy researched the background of each of the men because he "wanted to bring them alive as individuals". "Some of the chaps were only about 18 years old, and I think of our young players today, the same age, yet those who died never made it to the first XI," he said. Mr Pracy, from the club's official museum, the Peter Edwards Museum & Library, began his research in 2010 and picked it up again during the Covid-19 pandemic. Three of the men died during World War Two and the rest during World War One. They were all volunteers. An England bowler "Ken Farnes (1911 to 1941) was a schoolmaster at Worksop College and used to play cricket in the school holidays - except he had a very understanding headmaster who let him go on three England tours as well," Mr Pracy of a civil servant, he grew up in Romford, part of Essex until 1965, and made his county debut in 1930, playing for Essex 79 times and 15 times for was reputed to be one of the fastest bowlers of the 1930s - alongside the legendary inter-war bowler Harold Larwood, according to Mr Farnes volunteered for the RAF and died on his first unsupervised night-time flight at Chipping Warden, part of Oxfordshire at the Pracy said: "His girlfriend was waiting for him at the airfield and heard the crash - she later said she knew it was him." An all-round sportsman Chartered accountant Claude Ashton (1901 to 1942) not only played for Essex, he was an international Pracy said: "He went to Winchester School, and later he was Cambridge University's cricket captain."Mr Ashton was born in India, but was brought up in Essex. "He also volunteered for the RAF, even though he was in his 40s and probably didn't need to, and was killed in a mid-air collision on a training flight in north Wales," said Mr other pilot was also a cricketer - Roger Winlaw, who played for Cambridge, Bedfordshire and Surrey. The pair were commemorated with a showcase previously used to hold the Ashes. The professional cricketer "Laurie Eastman (1897 to 1941) was his firm's ARP (Air Raid Precautions) warden on one of the worst days of the Blitz, doing night-time fire watch duties, when a bomb went off very close to him," said Mr up in Leyton, also then part of Essex, he had served in World War One, receiving the Military Medal and the Distinguished Service professional cricketer played full-time for Essex from 1926 to 1939, and was "a hard-hitting batsman with lots of decent scores", said Mr club supporter Clement Calnan offered Mr Eastman work as an accounts clerk at his Romford firm during the winter months and the married father-of-two worked for the firm full-time after war broke Pracy said: "He was very badly affected by the bomb blast and taken to a specialist hospital for treatment, where he died during an operation." An Ipswich Town player Doctor's son Roy Pallett (1895 to 1918) had only just left Repton School when he volunteered for Army service on the outbreak of World War One. Mr Pracy said: "He grew up at Earls Colne, near Colchester, and was a very good all-round sportsman, who also played for Ipswich Town FC when it was in the amateur Southern League."He played three second XI matches for Essex and survived nearly four years of war before he was killed on 6 April 1918."The majority of the World War One players listed on the memorial were amateurs and, like Mr Pallett, had been to public [private] schools."The thing is, the young public school boys tended to become junior officers and were often the first ones to be mowed down leading their men," Mr Pracy said. The law student "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said there was 'little doubt' Geoffrey Davies (1892 to 1915) would have developed into an England player," said Mr was from Woodford Green, also once part of Essex, and was "the only one of the 13 who died in World War One to have established a regular place in the first XI". The University of Cambridge law student played in the club's first team during his holidays. Mr Pracy said: "Of the Essex second XI who played at The Oval in August 1914, five of the Essex lads, including Pallett, were killed and two of the Surrey ones."He also discovered two of the World War One casualties were past the age of conscription - Douglas Tosetti, 41, and 46-year-old Frank Street."The more you know about them, the more sad you are - but they were all doing their bit and it's absolutely vital they are remembered," he said. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
