GIVEN that the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign this year is very much one of remembrance in Herefordshire, it is therefore a cause of sadness that not all village war memorials are being properly maintained. The one in Withington is a case in point.

For six years when I lived in the village, and with the full knowledge and agreement of Withington Group Parish Council, I kept the memorial tidy. Indeed, during that time, the council spent quite a bit of money upgrading the stonework and repointing the lettering.

During the last two years the surrounds of the cross have become increasingly weed-ridden and overgrown. This unsatisfactory state of affairs has repeatedly been brought to the attention of the parish council but without effect.

Is it really too much to expect the group parish council to honour its responsibilities to those who fought and died for their country during the last 100 years?

DAVID PACKMAN Wellington Heath