A PRESTON ex-serviceman is calling for a regular clean-up of the town's cenotaph after seeing it on the front cover of a war veterans' newsletter looking dull and dilapidated.

Ron Yates, 79, of Longridge Road, Ribbleton, has also written to Preston Borough Council complaining about the state of the war memorial after a story on the front page of the March edition of The New Crusader, the journal of the Eighth Army Veterans' Association.

Mr Yates, an ex-Special Forces Sergeant of six years, saw the article about people recording names on various memorials to create a national inventory and a photograph of Preston's cenotaph.

After seeing the article, Mr Yates promptly wrote to The New Crusader, which is compiled by an ex-lecturer from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, to point out that the shameful photograph is in fact from his very own town.

He said: "The cenotaph is neglected, dirty and litter strewn and even the cement is coming away at the bottom. There are eight floodlights around it, all smashed. Other memorials are surrounded with flowers -- ours has nothing more than lifeless shrubs."

Mr Yates even received a letter from a Canadian reader after news of the cenotaph reached foreign shores.

"Another ex-soldier who subscribed to the letter wrote to me saying 'don't give up' after he wrote to his local authority to clean the local war memorial and it happened in weeks.

"I know some say the war was a long time ago and question the need to look after memorials, but if it wasn't for all those that died we would be under the rule of the Nazis now, so we owe it to them to look after it."

He also criticised Preston Borough Council for spending money on replacing stone flags around the marketplace, choosing to ignore the memorial.

Councillor Joe Hood, who is also deputy mayor of Preston, said: "Without a doubt the cenotaph should be kept in pristine condition and the council should do this. I would support any action for it to be improved and I can't imagine there will be much division on that."

Following The Citizen's enquiries, a spokesperson for Preston Borough Council said the memorial was promptly cleaned on Sunday, August 12. He said: "We're grateful to Mr Yates for bringing the matter to our attention and the war memorial was cleaned on Sunday. It is cleaned once or twice a year and has to be done very carefully so as not to damage the stone work.

" We're looking at ways of improving this maintenance programme so as to enhance the overall apperance of the Memorial."