Village allowed to gild war memorial

Villagers have won a battle to honour the names of the war dead in gold leaf after a judge overruled a Church court.

The Diocesan Advisory Committee said the memorial at St Jude’s Church in Hexthorpe, South Yorks, should be “cleaned but not painted or gilded”.

But the Church of England’s Consistory Court decided that the “strength of local feeling” should be honoured. The judge cited a photo of the dedication ceremony in May 1921, showing a “movingly large number of people”, as evidence the memorial was a “heartfelt local response to honour those lost”.