Ahead of the centenary of the end of the First World War, St Mary's Church and West Malling Parish Council are fund-raising to repair and restore the West Malling War Memorial.

The War Memorial was erected in 1921 and is showing its age. With the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War approaching, it also seems an appropriate point to seek to refurbish and renovate the memorial to a good standard for the future generations. The War Memorial was awarded Listed Building Status (Grade II) in March 2017.

Between 1918 and 1921, the people of West Malling raised the money to see the memorial erected so that the fallen of this town, their family members, friends and neighbours, would always be remembered. It would be great to think that the people of West Malling today would donate, as our predecessors once did, so that the memorial can be repaired and restored.

The work we plan to do involves:

1. carrying out the complete restoration of the stone work including raking out all open joints and re-pointing;

2. providing a fully sheeted scaffold and security fencing to protect the public while work is ongoing;

3. once restored, a full cleaning of the stone work is required;

4. re-enamel the inscriptions on the bronze panels;

5. Smart Water mark the bronze panels for identification and security. We are also currently considering re-patinating the plaques and applying a surface coating of micro-crystalline wax to preserve the finish;

6. prepare & re-paint the war memorial fence and repair the stone gate posts.

West Malling Parish Council have been preparing grant applications but we would like to see the people of West Malling contributing to the memorial's good repair. All funds raised will be used for this project. If we raise more than we need, the money will be held in a separate fund by St Mary's Church to be used solely for future repairs and maintenance of the memorial.