WILLING volunteers have restored a war memorial in a remote Yorkshire dales community.

The stone memorial at Arkengarthdale needed repointing and its topstones relaying after the weather had taken its toll over the years.

Work was completed on Saturday when rubbish was removed from the site and chippings laid.

The condition of the memorial became apparent during assessment of work required to reinstate the wall behind it, which collapsed at the beginning of the year.

Most of the topstones were loose, most of the surrounding wall needed repointing and there was concern over the height of a tree and the damage its roots were causing to the walls.

Arkengarthdale parish council obtained two grants - £125 from the North Yorkshire small project fund and £200 from the Yorkshire Rural Community Council.

The amount was accepted gratefully but was insufficient to cover the full cost of repairs and an appeal for volunteers resulted in parish councillors and others turning out on June 10 to begin work. They spent the morning hacking out the pointing and removing and replacing topstones.

The following Saturday, more volunteers helped finish the topstones and tackle most of the pointing, which was completed the following week by Mr Parkin Waller.

Three tons of limestone chippings were bought to finish the facelift.

Mrs Katie Willkomm, parish clerk, said: "In a small dale such as Arkengarthdale it was pleasing to see both younger and older generations volunteering their time for such a worthy cause, proving yet again the strong community spirit in the dale. We would like to thank everyone involved with the restoration work and with a special thanks to Parkin Waller whose professionalism ansured that the overall job was one that everyone could be proud of."

Mr Clark Stones, parish council chairman, said the war memorial restoration was just one way the community marked the millennium.

Other work included improvements on the high green, where cobbling had been laid to replace the surface washed away by rain water.