A COMMUNITY has turned out in force to help victims of a cemetery memorial plaque theft.

More than 30 residents gathered at the Old Colonial Inn, Mirfield, on Saturday and walked a 12-mile circuit to raise money to repair damaged memorial plaques.

The walk was organised by Clr Martyn Bolt to support grieving families who were left devastated when 168 plaques were ripped off the wall of the memorial garden of St Mary’s Church in Mirfield.

The garden is used to spread the ashes of the deceased by their loved ones and a small metal plaque may be placed on the wall in their memory.

Clr Bolt told The Examiner: “We wanted to come together to raise funds and show our support to those affected by the revolting acts of individuals who stole plaques from the memorial garden.”

The walk was planned despite the stolen plaques being recovered.

But many are badly damaged – leaving the church with a £20,000 bill to replace and re-install the memorials.

Clr Bolt added:“It’s not just a case that we’ve got the plaques back and they can be reinstalled,’’ he said.

“They used acid and tried to grind away the names etched on the plaques so as they wouldn’t be identifiable as memorials.”

The event started at 9.30am on Saturday and the last to complete the course entered the pub at 4pm.

Clr Bolt said: “We called the event Beating the Bounders as a twist on the tradition of walking the parish boundaries – it was the strongest term I could use to describe the people who did this despicable act.”

The walk took in the boundary of the old Mirfield Urban District Council.

It started at the Old Colonial Inn, went along the edge of Crossley, towards Heckmondwike, near The Star at Roberttown, down the back of Holly Bank, behind The Three Nuns pub and back along Huddersfield Road.

Speaking of the walk the Conservative Clr Bolt added: “We had a good turnout given the short notice and there was a great community atmosphere.

“People were applauding us as we passed by.”

The group were kept well-fuelled on their journey with refreshments from Hopton Community Association, Charlotte’s Ice Cream Parlour provided tasty treats before corn beef hash was served up at the Old Colonial Inn on their return.

Two men aged 26 and 37 have been arrested in connection with the memorial plaque thefts which took place on the night of September 23.