THE colours of two Barnsley regiments will be protected after conservation work started this week.
The colours of the 13th and 14th York and Lancaster Regiments were found in a cupboard in St Mary’s Church, in the town entre, in 1990.
They had been awarded to the regiments in 1919 after the First World War but had been forgotten and were slowly turning to dust.
Local historian, Jane Ainsworth, discovered the colours in 2013 and began fundraising to help protect a piece of Barnsley history.
“The colours are a way to remember the sacrifice of the men and it’s a rule that once the colours become too disintegrated that they should be buried on consecrated ground,” said Jane. “But when I found them I was determined that they would be on display again as a way to remember our past.”
The painstaking work began on Monday and will eventually see the colours mounted in frames which will hang in the church.
