'Telford Batman' launches campaign to help fight decay at war memorial

Helping to maintain the Second World War memorial in Donnington, near The Parade, has been a passion project for Donnington parish councillor Jay Gough for many years.

Alongside dozens of volunteers, the former Royal Signals engineer has spent hundreds of hours painting, sweeping, jet washing and mowing the site.

Now, Councillor Gough - known around the town as Telford Batman - says more needs to be done to permanently preserve the historic monument.

He said: "The Donnington War Memorial means so much to our community, and it has had no proper funding put into it in decades.

"Some of the gates I'm sure are more paint than gate. There are brass dedication plates of some of them that you can barely read, so they need a good sandblasting.

"The paths need replacing, a lot of the surrounding wall needs repointing because years of weeds and moss and nasties have been eating away at it."

He added: "I want the problems fixed and hopefully we can all work together on it. I've been blown away by our wonderful team of volunteers.

"But it needs a good spruce up and ensuring its security for the future."

Within 24 hours of launching a Gofundme page, Councillor Gough had raised £1,300 of his £5,000 target after a generous anonymous donor added £1,000 to the total.

He said: "I was absolutely blown away. Just goes to show how massively appreciated it is in Donnington."

More information is available at gofundme.com/f/donnington-war-memorial