Lusitania war memorial restored

The war memorial is made up of nearly 3,000 pieces of glass

A glass war memorial featuring the doomed Cunard liner Lusitania has been restored following a 10-year, £20,000 fundraising campaign.

The tribute to the dead of two world wars at St James' Church, West Derby, Liverpool, shows the vessel with smoke billowing from her four funnels.

The six foot by four foot wall-mounted memorial inside the church is made up of nearly 3,000 pieces of glass.

It will be unveiled at the Remembrance Day service on 8 November at 1045 GMT.

The Lusitania was heading for Liverpool from New York when she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat submarine off the Irish coast on 7 May 1915 with the loss of nearly 1,200 lives.

An image of the Lusitania was probably incorporated in the war memorial because she was a popular Liverpool ship and many crew members from the city died in the sinking.

The memorial had been affected by damp and was removed from the wall by a team from Liverpool's National Conservation Centre while fund-raising continued.

A specialist glass and ceramics conservator spent a total of five months renovating the memorial.