A COMMUNITY came together to unveil a renewed war memorial to honour their fallen heroes.

The rural parish of Ysceifiog recently unveiled its refurbished and re-built War memorial on the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

The project has taken four years to complete and a special service was held.

The parish of Ysceifiog saw almost 95 of its young men sign up for military service in WW1 of whom 10 died on active service, several returned with severe physical injuries and others had been so traumatised that they never spoke about their experiences.

In 1921 local people decided to have a memorial to those who had sacrificed their lives while on service for their country and with local donations erected a red granite Celtic Cross in the churchyard of St. Mary’s Church.

Cllr Tudor Jones said the original 1921 Memorial Cross had started to succumb to the passage of time and the footpath became 'dangerous'.

In his address to the congregation Cllr Jones, who led the project, thanked those who had contributed their skills, time and energy to make the renewed memorial possible.

Now there are two additional names on Ysceifiog’s War Memorial, David Davies who died in the Second World War and more recently, Alan Cochran who died in Afghanistan in 2010.

Neil Cochran, Alan’s father, took the lead role in the physical restoration work and was assisted by a great many friends from the construction industry together with suppliers who provided materials and services without charge.

All 12 names of the war dead are now engraved on the monument.

Cllr Jones welcomed family members to the Dedication Service who were representing The Fallen from all three wars recorded on the memorial.

The service and ceremony was attended by over 100 members of the public together with members of the local Royal British Legion and Côr y Llan; Ysceifiog’s own choir. There were also representatives from the local Army Cadets and The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Councillor Marion Bateman, Chair of Flintshire Council and Flintshire’s Armed Forces Champion, Cllr. Andrew Dunbobbin. The Reverend Anne Hooper officiated.

The village rounded off the day with a buffet in the Village Hall where several families had brought mementoes to create an impromptu display of personal items, photographs and letters from the First World War, the Second World War and the War in Afghanistan.