A VILLAGE is hoping to add the names of its Second World War victims to a memorial more than 60 years after they died.

The war memorial at St Michael's and All Angels Church, in Barningham, near Barnard Castle, lists those residents of the village that died in the First World War, but those who perished in the Second World War have never been added.

Members of the parish meeting believe there are four names that need to be added to the memorial - Robert Burrell, Leonard Burton, Sidney Powell and Leslie Watson, who all died in action.

The names of the First World War victims have suffered from weathering since the memorial was first erected, and residents hope those names can be re-set too.

It is believed the work would cost as much as £650, so the parish meeting would need to attract funding for the project.

Robin Brooks, of Barningham Parish Meeting, said: "The names have just never been added, so we thought it would be nice if we could include them.

"Some of the stone has eroded so the other names on the memorial are almost illegible too.

"We know there are some organisations we can turn to to apply for funding, so that is the next step.

"Although there has been some discussion about the church paying for the work, my personal opinion is that it should be undertaken by the parish meeting on behalf of the civil parish rather than the ecclesiastical parish.

"This is simply because we don't know whether those killed were members of the Church of England - they could well have been Methodists, given that there was then a chapel in the village, or of no faith at all."

The Reverend Christopher Cowper, of St Michael's and All Angels Church, said: "We've got to a situation now where two of the four people that did return from the war have died recently.

"These were men that fought alongside those men who died in action and so putting these four names on the memorial is as much in memory of the survivors of the war as of its victims.

"The four names are read out every year but it would be nice to have something permanent there too."