A NEW war memorial has been installed in Cross Hills and a parish councillor is keen to recognise all those who have helped with the project.

The stone structure, which has a gunmetal plaque commemorating the names of 57 soldiers from the Glusburn parish killed during the First World War, is situated on a piece of land off Park Street and Main Street.

“I’m very pleased with the memorial,” said Glusburn and Cross Hills parish councillor Patrick Hargreaves. “We’ve set out what we wanted to do.

“I’m very proud it’s done and I hope it stands as a legacy in a nice little corner of the village.”

Work on the £5,000 memorial project, run by and underwritten by the parish council, has been provided by a number of individuals and companies, some giving services for free.

Cllr Hargreaves, who is the project lead, said: “We’ve been helped by a number of people, and we’re very grateful for that.”

JN Bentley Ltd of Skipton, for example, provided the site preparation and groundworks.

Cllr Hargreaves added: “Part of the team involved in doing this work were three Glusburn and Cross Hills men – Thomas Fawcett, Alex Trevors and Colin Throupe – who told me they were very proud to be able to help with this project.

“The one thing we’ve found with this project is almost everybody from this village has a family connection with the First World War lads.”

John Greenwood, director of JN Bentley, said: “The nature of the projects we undertake at JN Bentley means we often work in local communities. Our team that helped on the war memorial scheme in Glusburn and Cross Hills all live in the local area.”

Cllr Hargreaves also said the physical installation would not have been possible without the work of Glusburn resident David Birks, who researched the 57 names being commemorated.

His research was on public display at Glusburn’s Fallfest in September, and has since been incorporated into an exhibition at South Craven School.

A new information board to be installed at the site will recognise those that helped with the war memorial project.

“It will credit the help we’ve had from businesses and community organisations,” said Cllr Hargreaves.

The memorial will be officially unveiled on November 11.