Vince Cable

On Sunday the national president of the British Legion, the Mayor, the vicar of Teddington, Rev. John Cleaver and MP Vincent Cable attended a service rededicating the refurbished memorial at Teddington.

The memorial was cleaned after a long battle with the council. British Legion campaigners, backed by Vincent Cable, MP, felt that a memorial with dirty stonework was not a proper tribute to the war dead. A clean up was eventually agreed and Sunday's ceremony was the end of the process.

vincent Cable said: "because of legislation over 50 years old responsibility for the upkeep of memorials rests with councils. they have an invidious choice between essential services and keeping up the appearance of memorials. arguably there should be a small, central pot of funding for this purpose. However, in this case, I am delighted that the council did relent and clean up the memorial a few months ago."