THE FUTURE of a crumbling war memorial looks brighter after the council caved in to calls for it to help finance urgent repair work.

Council leader Keith Prince has promised to help save the dilapidated First World War monument - situated outside St Barnabas Church in Woodford Green - by donating money from Area Two committee's discretionary fund.

The move comes after the Guardian highlighted the battle led by Deputy Church Warden Alan Clark to rescue the eye-catching plinth - which lists the names of 57 servicemen from the area who gave their lives for their country.

Cllr Prince said that no exact figure had yet been agreed for the donation and that it would depend on whether or not campaigners received a grant for the rest of the estimated £8,000 cost from the War Memorials Trust

He said: "As leader of this council I can promise that I will not be allowing that memorial to fall over.

"We owe the people on that memorial a debt of gratitude for what they did for us.

"We do not know exactly how much it's going to be yet.

"There is money available in the Area Two budget at the moment but we are waiting to find out how much the church will actually need."

The news has been welcomed by the church's vicar, Graham Sawyer.

He said: "I'm absolutely delighted to say the least.

"We're very grateful for the council's support with this.

"At the moment we are trying to raise around half a million to renovate our church hall, so we really wouldn't be able to repair the memorial without some help."

The church hopes eventually to turn the plinth into a 'living memorial' by adding the names of those from the area who have been killed in subsequent conflicts right up to the present day.