A FORGOTTEN relic of a town's war heroes has turned up more than 50 years after it was taken away to be cleaned.
The first war memorial in Loftus, which was hung on the side of the town hall in 1919, was taken down in 1949 because the wood was rotting and it was felt it needed cleaning.
But instead of being restored, it remained in a packing box and was moved from place to place throughout Loftus until it was eventually found in the Old Chapel at the cemetery on Whitby Road.
Eric Jackson, Loftus councillor and deputy mayor of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: "It is an old relic of Loftus's history and I am really pleased it has turned up because it was the first war memorial Loftus had."
The names on the memorial were included on the cenotaph in the town square.
Coun Jackson hopes to discover who owns the memorial.
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