£400,000 Barr Beacon revamp forges ahead

Contractors started work on Walsall's Barr Beacon War Memorial last month and are on track to finish early next year.

The roof has been removed, rotten timbers replaced and stone steps and paving taken up to be cleaned and polished before being put back. The next stage involves replacing copper – a metal thieves target – with zinc which is worthless to them.

Work is being done by Aldridge-based Midland Conservation Ltd. Site manager Ron Graham said: "We have the fabricators coming in next week to take measurements for the zinc.

"At this moment in time, about 50 per cent of the stone steps and paving have now been reinstated. It will be completed in a month or so. The work has moved on quite a lot. All the stone work is being cleaned down on the columns."

The flagpole has been sent to be straightened and is expected to be back next month.

"The last three metres of the flagpole was bent," Mr Graham added. "We are having that straightened. It will be put back two metres from its original place so it is central to the steps. It will look better."

He said work was on track to finish by the end of January, but a tree plantation is also being planned in the surrounding area.

"It's looking exceptionally good. There's been a massive interest in it from the public and most people are glad there is work going on here."

Improvements are part of a £440,000 project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A War Memorials Trust and SmartWater Foundation partnership will see war memorial metal plaques forensically marked.