A LEADING councillor is searching for the families of people whose names feature on a forgotten memorial stone.

For Stacksteads councillor Michael McShea wants to bring the ornate memorial back into use - as a tribute to the town's war dead.

The monument, which is kept in storage at Rawtenstall Cemetery, carries the names of people buried at the site between 1914 and 1962.

But Coun McShea believes the design of the memorial means it would suit the area's new First World War remembrance garden.

A memorial tablet featuring the names of the Stacksteads men who lost their lives in the Great War is already planned for the garden. But Coun McShea still feels the memorial, which he first spotted at Rawtenstall cemetery 10 years ago, would add to the new garden.

He says it would be a perfect tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the battle as it has a Celtic ring on the top which is traditionally used on war memorials.

Now he is appealing to any remaining family members to come forward and give permission for its use.

Engravings in the stone show the last person to be buried at the site was Susan Greenwood, aged 93, who died on May 10, 1962, and the first person was Ellen Harris, died aged 64, on October 8, 1914.

Coun McShea said: "I thought it would be perfect to use in the memorial garden but wanted to seek the permission of any remaining family members first. I would ask them to get in contact with me."

Work on Stacksteads Peace Garden - on the site of the former Blind Gardens - started around two weeks ago.

It has taken almost two years to raise the £10,000 needed to build a monument and create a new entrance for the garden.

The project has been led by Coun McShea, who secured the funding needed for the work, and local historian Phil Broadhurst, who has researched the names of local men who died in battle.

Phil developed an interest in locals who fought in the war after visiting the Somme and Ypres.

He has now carried out painstaking research to discover the names of 120 soldiers from Stacksteads who have never featured on a memorial in this country. Those are the names that will appear on the new monument.

Fellow ward councillor Christine Lamb said: "It is nice that things are finally coming together. Michael has worked really hard to pull this off and the Celtic memorial would be a perfect addition to the garden.

"The names of the men who are not recognised on any cenotaph will now be acknowledged on the monument remembering that they made the ultimate sacrifice, and it will give the town a place to lay its wreaths on Remembrance Day."

Any family members who believe the names of relatives feature on the memorial can ring Coun McShea on 01706 874607.