D-DAY SHAME FOR FESTIVAL GOERS (From Warrington Guardian)

D-DAY SHAME FOR FESTIVAL GOERS

MUSIC fans clambered on top of Winsford's war memorials during the same weekend that the world commemorated the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

The incident happened on Saturday morning as a school band played in Fountain Court as part of the Winsford Town Festival, with some of the 120-strong crowd jumping on to the memorials to get a better view.

Alan Ravenscroft, of Station Road, who was collecting for charity in the town centre during the event, was angered by the actions of the minority.

He said: "The memorials are continually being desecrated. This time, people were sitting on them, eating, drinking and smoking.

"I've raised it time and time again with the town council but they don't want to do anything about it.

"The chains around the memorials have been removed and to me that's just political correctness in case anyone trips up on them and there's trouble."

A spokeswoman for Modus confirmed that the chains had recently been removed because the warm weather was causing the paint on the chains to blister and melt.

Deputy mayor Tony Hooton said: "We became aware that there was a problem with the chains around the war memorials.

"It's unfortunate that this problem coincides with the 60th anniversary of D-Day celebrations and we apologise for any upset this may have caused.

"We have had some discussions with Modus, the town centre managers, and we are working together to renovate or replace the chains at the earliest possible time to a good standard."

But Mr Ravenscroft added: "The memorial itself will get broken up if it carries on like this. There are cracks in it already.

"We've just had a week of blanket coverage of remembrance, but remembrance is not only for anniversaries - remembrance of how important these memorials are should take place every day."

The Modus spokeswoman said the temporary removal of the chains and the 60th anniversary of D-Day had been 'an unfortunate coincidence' and that the company was very sympathetic to the problem.

She added that the company would soon replace the chains and said: "We will always look after anything that is in our shopping centre, such as the memorials."