Three plaques which honour soldiers of the First World War have been re-located to Silsden Town Hall.

The plaques, which show the names of Silsden soldiers who served and died during the 1914-18 war, had been stored in the former Silsden Methodist Church building. Each plaque represents one of the three Methodist churches in Silsden at the time, including the United Methodist Church, Wesleyan Church and Silsden Primitive Methodist Church.

But last year before work began on the new Silsden Methodist Church building, the church council voted not to put the plaques on display in the new premises.

That decision angered ex-soldier Brian Sunderland, 77, who started a campaign to get them housed in the town hall.

“If I hadn’t fought for them, I don’t know what would have happened,” Mr Sunderland said at the time.

“I went berserk when I was told they didn’t want them. I couldn’t believe it.”

Silsden Methodist Church minister the Rev Jacky Hale said the plaques had not been erected in the old church but just stored there.

“We had a vote and the decision was to accept the offer of the town council to re-house them in the town hall,” she said.

However, the town council had to get permission from Bradford Council to erect them in the town hall, an effort which was spearheaded by former Silsden mayor Alan Edwards, who recently died.

Before the plaques were officially erected in the town hall last Friday, they were cared for by members of Craven’s Part in the Great War and stored at McDowell’s Haulage, in Keighley.

“It has been one hell of a task getting these plaques to where they are today, a task that needed the help of various people and organisations,” said Mr Sunderland. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all who helped.

“It means absolutely everything to me to see them displayed in the town hall. I didn’t want to see them thrown out.

“These plaques are so near to where they should be, only a matter of yards from the new chapel, where the powers-that-be decided there was no room for them.

“I forgive those that made that decision but I will never forget what they did.”

Silsden town mayor Cllr Michael Elsmore said: “We were happy to help restore the historical plaques, so the current population of Silsden could see all of the names. There are still families in Silsden with these names.”

l The mayors of Skipton, Silsden and Keighley attended a service of remembrance at Malsis School, Glusburn, on Saturday.

Skipton mayor, Cllr Robert Heseltine, Silsden’s Cllr Michael Elsmore and Keighley deputy mayor, Cllr Mick Westerman, joined guests at the service, which was held in the school chapel.

l Lest we forget — special report, pages 32-33