A PLEA for records of a village war memorial has been issued by a parish council, in a bid to have the monument listed.

Clifford Herrington, parish clerk at Newsham, near Richmond, is hoping to trace documentation from the unveiling of the memorial in 1921.

"In order to get the structure listed, we have to answer several questions and we haven't really discovered any records," he said. "An old diary entry showed it was unveiled in 1921 on Sunday the 28th, but doesn't say which month."

The unveiling ceremony was performed by Sir Frederick Milbank and further diary entries - relating to crops and livestock sales - suggest it could have been July or August.

The project to seek listed monument status began when the parish council was considering refurbishing and painting the railings.

"I saw there was an organisation called the Friends of War Memorials and I got in touch. They mentioned it had to be listed before it would qualify for a grant," said Mr Herrington.

Anyone who can help should write to Mr Herrington at 4 Old Smithy Green, Newsham, Richmond, North Yorkshire.