Oldham Times 6 May 2020-MORE than £20,000 has been secured for the full refurbishment of Failsworth war memorial from Oldham Council’s Local Improvement Fund (LIF). It follows a campaign by Failsworth district lead Cllr Liz Jacques. In total the refurbishment project will see more than £40,000 spent on the sensitive restoration of the memorial column and grounds in accordance with Commonwealth War Graves Commission and English Heritage guidelines. Cllr Jacques sponsored the £20,000 bid to the LIF and Labour councillors topped up the funds with £2,000 each from personal budgets, said council leader Sean Fielding. And he hailed the "example of cross-party working" after Cllr Jacques secured a £1,000 contribution from the local independent councillors budget. To make up the remaining difference she forensically examined budget spreadsheets from previous years to identify unspent monies that would otherwise be rolled into Oldham Council’s reserves and lost from the Failsworth community, said Cllr Fielding. Last year, some damage was caused to a decorative mosaic in the memorial grounds and rumours were circulated on social media about what happened, although it is still not certain what caused the damage. A number of proposals to conduct minor repairs on the memorial were brought forward but were either not workable or unsatisfactory to the special interest groups governing War Memorial repairs. Cllr Jacques said: “Failsworth’s war memorial has needed refurbishment for many years but we have struggled to find an appropriate source of funding. "The damage added a sense of urgency to getting these repairs undertaken and I am glad that the Local Improvement Fund was there. Without it I do not know what we would have done.” Cllr Fielding, who is also organiser of the Remembrance Sunday Service in Failsworth and architect of the LIF, added: “Liz deserves huge credit for this, not just for sponsoring an excellent bid but for negotiating contributions from all Councillors regardless of party. Some things are above politics, and this is one of them. “With every successful bid in to this fund, and investment that it enables, it shows that the decision to abolish the District Executives and roll the savings and officer time in to this pot was absolutely the right thing to do.” The money will see full renewal of the memorial column and grounds which last took place in 2007. The timeline for the works is due to be issued soon and work will be undertaken so that disruption to the annual Remembrance Sunday service is minimised.