A ROLL of honour showing the names of all Nelson's First World War heroes is to be remade - but only if search teams fail to find the original.

In 1915, Nelson Council agreed to record all the names of those serving in the war and, after knocking on every door in the town came up with a list of 1,766 names, which were carved into an ornate wooden plaque and placed on the wall at the old library in Booth street.

But when the library was moved to Market Square in 1974, the plaque was taken down and never seen again.

Veterans' campaigner Fred Stringer told Pendle Council's Nelson Committee that he wanted to see a new plaque with all the original names, placed in another prominent position in Nelson.

A row broke out in the council chamber though, when Liberal Democrat Councillor Sonia Robinson said storerooms should be checked again before a new memorial was made, and that Mr Stringer should come back to the committee in February, by which time costings for a new plaque could be done as well as the search for the old one.

Labour leader Councillor Mohammad Iqbal accused her of denying cash to a good cause and called for an initial donation of at least £2,000, along with a pledge to pay any more needed to complete the project.

He said Mr Stringer had already searched everywhere that the plaque could be, and that it had disappeared.

He said: "We can't sit here tonight with £200,000 in the kitty and say come back in two months when, by hook or by crook the chairman, Councillor David Foster, and his cronies will have spent the money and you will be telling us you're sorry but you don't have any left.

"I'm sure people have looked time after time, and for one reason or another this roll of honour has disappeared.

"To replace it would equate to just over a quid for each name."

Councillor Jamil Munir said there was no suggestion that the council would not fully fund displaying the names, either through restoration of the old plaque or the carving of a new one.

He said: "All we are saying is that, if possible, we would like to see the old one back up.

"Either way, we need to know what sort of cost this is going to be."