A war memorial will stay in its current position at a town hall, a council has decided, after a proposal to move it provoked a backlash from residents.
The tribute to the crew of World War Two warship HMS Vimiera has been on display in the foyer of the town hall in Sandbach, Cheshire, since 2023.
But it was one of three locations being considered for Sandbach Town Council’s mayoral honours boards, which would have meant moving the memorial elsewhere.
However, at a meeting on Wednesday, the council decided to hang the honours boards – a record of the town’s mayors – on the second floor and leave the memorial in the foyer.
The memorial, featuring a plaque, commemorative bell and shield, pays tribute to the 93 men who died in January 1942 when HMS Vimiera struck a mine in the Thames Estuary and sank.
It had become the adopted ship of Sandbach in December 1941 after the town raised more than £163,000 as part of a Royal Navy fundraising initiative.
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