You may remember that thieves stole a couple of the bronze plaques from Shepley War Memorial back in the 1970s. The plaques commemorated those who had died during both world wars. One recently turned up at an auction in South West England after its recovery from the bottom of a lake.

Villagers from different groups in Shepley have now come together to set up a new War Memorial Group. The group will decide what happens to the recovered plaque. Villagers replaced the original plaque with a copy following its disappearance.

Local stone mason Dave Bradbury chairs the new group. It met for the first time on 27th March 2018. Members are: Dinah Bentley, Dave Bradbury (Chair), Jacqueline Chivers (Notes), John Cowan, John Edinburgh, Jaci Mackie, Peter Mackie, Margaret Scott, Roger Smith.

Historic England have confirmed that the War Memorial has been approved for listed status. The listing can be found here

The group discussed the following:

• Agreed that the plaque will need to be recessed in the stone.
• Confirmed that a 3ft x 4ft stone has been gifted to the village by Marshalls quarry.
• Agreed that as the stone mason Dave Bradbury and John Edinburgh would view the stone to understand the best method of securing it on site.
• Agreed we would produce a plan of the potential site.
• Committed to clearing permissions with Kirklees, Historic England and Royal British Legion.

The group discussed improving access to the site. All agreed that it was highly unlikely that funding would be made available for anything other than the improved pathways we have now. The necessary changes to the memorial, wood and recreation ground that would be needed to allow wheelchair access were financially prohibitive.

The meeting agreed that the new stone monument would be considered a part of the existing war memorial and as such come under the ownership and oversight of Kirklees Council as owners of the site and existing memorial.

Next meeting 17 April 2018