A memorial in Stroud honouring local men who died in the First World War was set on fire at the weekend.

The Park Gardens memorial shelter in Uplands was set alight sometime during the early hours of Saturday morning.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue arrived at around 7am to extinguish the fire.

Damage was caused to the wooden frame of the shelter which you can see in the photo.

A post on the Stroud Police Twitter page, said: "This shelter was erected in memory of local men who died in World War 1.

"If you can help us identify a culprit please call 101 and quote incident 78 of September 26."

Stroud Town Council is also calling for people who may have seen the attack to contact the police.

"This shelter is in memory of those people who sacrificed their lives in the First World War. This act will cause great offence to people in Stroud who have lost loved ones in conflicts," said Town Mayor Councillor Kevin Cranston.

"We would appeal for anyone who heard or saw something suspicious to contact the police.” 
 

The land for Park Gardens was donated by Councillor Sidney Park as a memorial to his only son Herbert and all those who fell in the First World War. Herbert was killed in France on October 26 1917 in a training accident. He was 23.
 

Witnesses are asked to contact the police by phoning 101 or anonymously to Crimestoppers 0800 555111 stating incident number 78 ( 26/9/20).

Residents also expressed their anger after hearing the news on Facebook.

One person said: "It's a memorial to soldiers in WW1, absolutely disgraceful behaviour."