A GROUP of Mitcheldean youngsters have put their time and money into cleaning up a town memorial to three young men who died in a road tragedy.
"We thought it was getting very shabby and we decided it needed a clean-up," said Natasha Waite, who organised the exercise.
"It was a good thing to do because it was nicer for the townspeople to sit down and it makes sure their names are not forgotten."
Natasha said they needed to scrape away old varnish and give it a new coat – and she bought the materials so that they could get stuck into it.
Most of the youngsters are still at Dene Magna school and all live in the town.
The youths named on the memorial were in a VW Polo which collided with a Land Rover Discovery near the Ladybrook Business Park on the A4136 in January 2005. All three died at the scene.
Their deaths led to searching questions about driving safety in the Dean and in particular over the road at this location. This also led in part to an ongoing Forest education project about accident prevention among young drivers.