A KIND-HEARTED volunteer lovingly restored a war memorial honouring the thousands of British lives lost fighting in the Far East throughout the Second World War.

John Clements took it upon himself to clean and re-paint the Burma Star memorial stone, situated in the Sunken Rose Garden, in Clacton’s seafront gardens.

Friend Dave Clarke, a fellow member of the Comrades Club, mentioned the state of the memorial to John.

Leaping into action, the volunteer visited the garden to see if something could be done.

John was given permission by the Burma Star Association to carry out the work, with no active branch of the group remaining in Clacton.

Tendring Council, custodians of the garden, also supported the project.

The memorial is dedicated to those who died during the Second World War fighting in the Far East, liberating Burma – now Myanmar – from Japanese occupation.

John, from Clacton, said he was happy to do the work – and hoped others in the community might follow his lead by sprucing up other memorials in the area.

“It’s 100 years since the end of the First World War and there are lots of commemoration services taking place,” he said.

“In the gardens there are some other memorials, one to the RAF and one to the Royal Navy, which look great – and this one stood out like a sore thumb.

“I wanted the Burma Star Memorial to look just as good, and the work I did is nothing compared to what the lads who fought over there went through.

“I would love to see more people take care of things like this in their community.

“As the older generation die off people are sadly losing interest in these memorials.”

Tendring Council advised people interesting in cleaning up parts of their community to ensure they have permission from the landowner, and the owners of the memorials, before carrying out the work.