Shrub End war memorial restoration finally gets started

The Shrub End war memorial was built in 1922 to honour the 17 men who died serving their country in the First World War, but the 8ft-tall monument, which is Grade II listed fell into a state of disrepair after years of neglect.

It has been fenced off due to health and safety concerns since 2022, though Mr Starling had been working since 2016 to overcome “the red tape and rigmarole” of working out who was responsible for maintaining the structure.

Remembered - Kevin Starling put in huge amounts of effort to begin the process of restoring the Shrub End war memorial (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Starling died earlier this year aged 68, and widow Sue has since taken on the challenge of restoring the memorial after £46,000 was raised in donations and council grants to fund the project.

Work started on Monday as builders get set to lift the memorial from its foundations and take it to a stonemason so it can be fully restored.

Mrs Starling, 67, said: “I promised Kevin in his last days I would make sure I would get it finished – come hell or high water, I would get it done.”

She enlisted the support of former Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell who helped complete the vast amounts of paperwork involved so work could begin.

Mrs Starling, of Eldred Avenue, said: “It’s going to be dismantled and repaired and restored to the state it was in originally.”

It is hoped specialist renovators Punch Construction will move the memorial from its current site in Shrub End Road within the next four weeks.

The marble plaque which listed the names of the fallen has been in storage for several years.

Mantle - Sue Starling has taken on the work her late husband could not finish (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

“The marble plaque was the only thing that wasn’t broken,” said Mrs Starling.

“Sir Bob has helped me with so much because I have had so much to contemplate at the moment.

“I handed it over to him to continue, so a lot of the final bits of the project are down to him.”