Councillors seeking up to £14,000 to repair the Hornchurch war memorial have made moves to secure the funding.

Damage was inflicted upon the memorial at St Andrew’s Church over the May bank holiday, when vandals smashed some of the steps and kicked over wooden crosses paying respect to those who sacrificed their lives.

Carole Barratt, a member of the Hornchurch Royal British Legion, told this paper at the time that the site was left in a “complete mess” and described the actions of those involved as “despicable”.

“It is now not looking good because of the broken-up step, and it is something we have now got to look to get repaired,” she said.

Romford Recorder: The damage is believed to have been caused on the Saturday evening/Sunday morning of the weekendThe damage is believed to have been caused on the Saturday evening/Sunday morning of the weekend (Image: Carole Barratt)

Cllr Paul Middleton, one of the Havering Residents’ Association (HRA) councillors for Saint Andrews ward, added that plans were being made to kick off a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the repairs.

Cllr Bryan Vincent, a recently-elected HRA councillor for the ward alongside Cllr Middleton and Cllr Gerry O’Sullivan, has now confirmed that he has passed a request onto Havering Council in an attempt to see if it would be able to cover all, or some, of the costs.

Quoted a total fee of £13-14,000 to repair the Grade-II listed memorial, Cllr Vincent said if the local authority is unable to support the work, then they will go down the crowdfunding route.

“We don’t want to see it left for another couple of years,” he said. “The idea is to try and get on top of it now.”

Cllr Vincent added that the work will include repairs beyond those fixing the damage caused in May, and should cover the memorial for “another 25/30 years, if not longer”.

“It’s a memorial that, come Remembrance Day, you can have 200/300 people lining that street when the wreaths are laid,” he said. “It’s quite a highlight.”

Leader of the council, Cllr Ray Morgan, said: “We have been looking at funding options to find a cost-effective way to restore the Hornchurch war memorial.

"We hope to have a timescale for repairs in place soon.”