A £1,000 restoration of the VE Day memorial in the Town Gardens has been completed.

South Swindon Parish Council started work to improve the memorial to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe.

The memorial was originally placed at the gardens to celebrate the 50th anniversary in 1995.

Over time moss and lichen had obscured the extract from the Siegfried Sassoon poem “Everyone Sang” which was engraved on the stone.

The parish agreed to spend £1,645 to clean the memorial, re-engrave the lettering and finish with black enamel.

Chairman Chris Watts said: "“The Parish Council is proud to be doing this work for the Town Gardens VE Day memorial.

"We feel people would want any memorial commemorating VE Day to be well maintained and retain its original appearance.

"Siegfried Sassoon’s poem describes the jubilant celebrations at the end of the war and the mixed emotions people would have felt.

"It’s great we will be able to showcase this poem for people to read.

"The work to improve the memorial in the Town Gardens follows the current restoration of the historic Town Garden gates and also work to create a WW2 memorial in Queen’s Park which people will be hearing more about closer to VE Day.”