A TOWN'S war memorial has been brought 'back to life' after vandals defaced it with an offensive symbol.

It was discovered last month that vandals had scrawled a swastika on the Connah's Quay and Shotton war memorial, which caused outrage across the town.

Despite being cleaned by Flintshire Council's Streetscene officers, the outline of the swastika could still be seen.

The Leader has previously reported that a national company, based in Kent, offered to clean the graffiti and the memorial free of charge.

Cllr Gary Cooper, chair of Shotton town council, said: "On behalf of the community of Shotton I wish to thank this company for their generous offer to clean our war memorial and many, many thanks to Steve and the rest of the community for them pursuing to get them here."

Steve Goodrum, Clerk of Connah's Quay council, said: "We are very grateful for the company to give their time free of charge to help clean the memorial and they have done a great job of bringing the memorial back to life."

Contractors for Graffiti Busters spent several hours at the memorial, using their specialist equipment.

Alan Wentworth, contractor, said: "We do a lot of work with memorials, especially down in London. Our head office is based in Kent but we do a lot of work in different places free of charge to help communities out. In some areas we see some really bad graffiti but you normally have veterans there to protect memorials and to maintain them."

Cllr Ian Dunbar, of Connah's Quay Town Council is also the treasurer for the Interservices Committee, said: "The swastika spoiled it for many people, especially the elderly ones because they are the family of the people named on the memorial. I had many phone calls from people saying how disgusted they were and what were we going to do as a town council and Interservices committee, which I'm treasurer of.

"We had an offer from GB in Kent who saw the upset it caused. They were prepared to come up and clean the graffiti off for free and we were pleased with this so we contacted them straight away.

"StreetScene tried to get it off but in a certain light it was still showing.

"We are in the process of trying to secure funding to get a plaque for the 22 names missing off the list and we are hoping Graffiti Busters will come back and put on a lacquer on to cover the memorial that will prevent anymore paint and protect from all weather conditions.

"We are more than pleased that this firm has come up today and done it free of charge for the people of Shotton and Connah's Quay."