It is hoped that the refurbishment of Congleton's Cenotaph will be completed by the end of October and be ready for Remembrance Day.

The Congleton Cenotaph is being refurbished to add the missing circa 239 names of the fallen to the plaques, taking the total names to 590.

The refurbishment is being carried out so that the town's war memorial site, on Lawton Street, can display the names of all the local men and women who have lost their lives through serving their country.

The original contract completion date was 9 October and a clause within the contract to trigger an extension has been executed.

The revised expected completion date is 30 October subject to weather conditions, which has had an impact on the project being delayed.

Updating councillors at last Thursday's Congleton Town Council meeting of Town Hall, Assets & Services Committee, David McGifford, chief officer of the council, told the committee that the contractors had difficulty working on the blue stones in wet conditions.

The contingency sum for the project is £8,000 and there remains £6,329.50 in hand which is not expected to be used according to Mr McGifford.

The new plaques are on the Cenotaph and the missing names have been added.

Outstanding items on the project are linking up the power, reinstatement of the footpath and installation of the pathway from the footpath through to the Cenotaph area.

The Streetscape team are currently clearing behind the Cenotaph area and will move on to the lower levels once given permission.

Mr McGifford told the committee that if for any reason the Cenotaph isn't totally completed for Remembrance Day, the contractors will open the site so wreaths can be placed there.

Cllr Duncan Amies wanted assurances that the project would be completed by Remembrance Day.

Mr McGifford said: "I don't think we should be putting the pressure on them, it's not because they are doing projects elsewhere, it is just a case of going through the various stages.

"If you actually watched them working, the skills they have got and the precision they are working to is fabulous. You always want them to work quicker."

Cllr Amies responded: "We are paying them a frightening amount of money to do this, so we should be getting this ready for Remembrance Day.

"Are they going to pull out all the stops?"

Mr McGifford stated that if there was a "deluge" of solid rain over the coming days, he felt the chances of the project being completed by 30 October would be "doubtful".

But if that was to happen the Cenotaph site would be opened up in a "safe way" for Remembrance Day.

Cllr Amies responded: "Fingers crossed we get no rain."