RELATIVES of High Royds hospital staff who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars are invited to attend a special thanksgiving and memorial service at the High Royds Memorial Chapel in Menston on September 14.

The ceremony will see the dedication of a war memorial plaque which replaces a metal plaque stolen when the hospital closed.

Eleven members of staff at the Menston hospital lost their lives in the First World War, and three died in the Second World War.

Now organisers of the event are seeking relatives of those remembered on the plaque to attend the ceremony at the chapel, on Buckle Lane.

The Lord and Lady Mayoress of Bradford will be in attendance and a specially mounted bronze plaque, in remembrance of the staff who gave their lives, will be dedicated during the service by Menston vicar the Rev Ruth Yeoman.

Tom Booth, a former Senior Nursing Officer, who worked at High Royds for more than 40 years, was shocked when the original bronze plaque was stolen but saved the wooden surround which the thieves left behind.

Now, having raised the necessary funding, the memorial has been recast exactly as shown on a photograph of the former plaque, and re-mounted in the original frame by Brett Thompson of Ilkley who is a member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen.

The service begins at 4pm.

Any relative who is interested is asked to contact Ron Sweeney the Chairman of the Friends of High Royds Memorial Garden & Chapel on (01943) 863362.