A TOWN War Memorial is to be re-dedicated, after the originally planned service was put on hold due to coronavirus.

In April, refurbishments to the Buckley War Memorial, situated in the Hawkesbury Garden of Remembrance, were completed by Blackwell’s Stonecraft Ltd.

Cllr David Ellis, who led the project's working group, said he was delighted with the outcome and announced a total of 36 new names had been added.

The memorial was due to be re-dedicated on VE Day, but the service was postponed due to covid-19.

Cllr Ellis has now said the occasion will go ahead on August 15, with a service starting at 10.30am.

"The stipulations are that we can only have 30 people there," he said. "But there is nothing to stop people if they want to view it from a distance.

"It has been a big effort working with a collective of people.

"A lot of research has been done and we have finally been able to put those 36 extra names on there."

In addition to cllr Ellis the working group comprised Royal British Legion Buckley Branch chairman Steve Evans and treasurer Ray Newman, ward councillor Carol Ellis, Buckley Society secretary Paul Davies and archivist Carol Shone, project manager Victor Lamb and Gwenno Eleri Jones of Flintshire Council.

Research was carried out by Carol Shone, of the Buckley Society, member Peter Kelsall and military research contact Graham Caldwell - with assistance from a number of others including secretary Paul Davies.

Ahead of the re-dedication this month Steve Blackwell, of Blackwell's Stonecraft, said: "I was honoured to be asked to work on the memorial. "I have family members who fought in both wars so it was a pleasure to work on. "it turned out to be a bigger project, because it went from cleaning the stone to recutting the names on there and then adding more.

"During the course of it, it was good to see families of people on the stone and we've had a very positive response."

The new names added to the memorial are as follows:

WWI: S. Ankers, E. Davies RWF, E. Davies SWB, G. Davies, F. Davison 3839, W. Davison, J. Ellis 25673, J.H. Evans, J. Fennah, A. Harris, G.W. Hastings, R. R. Hughes, T.C. Hughes, J. Iball, G.W. Isaac, O. Jones, S. Jones 36047, W. Millington, S. C. Piercy, W. Powell, G. Roberts, W. Roberts 6725, W. S. Roberts, J. Weigh and B. H. Williams.

WWII: W. Bunting, R.G. Earl, R.G. Jones, W. Millington, C. Shone, H. Shone, J.A. Snape, E.J. Williams and C.N. Wright.

WAZIRISTAN: B. Lamb.

IRAQ: KJ Stowell.