The 17th April recently marked the first anniversary of the fire that completely destroyed the home of Foden's Band.

Over the past couple of months the North West Area champion has been co-ordinating the extensive restoration work required to save and restore numerous items of memorabilia that were extensively damaged.

Painstaking work

Speaking about the painstaking work, Band Manager Mark Wilkinson told 4BR: "The first part of the process was to look at restoring numerous trophies of significant historical value, as well as a valuable bronze head of one of the founding family, William Foden."

Mark explained that the band approached the respected instrument and trophy repairer company of Neville Brothers to see if their expertise could help, and thankfully, the brothers were able to assess the extensive damage and start undertaking the essential restoration work.

Restore

"When we were asked to take a look at the damaged trophies we didn't quite know what to expect,"Phil Neville told 4BR.

However, we discovered the original silver to be in fairly good order despite the smoke and water damage. Through a series of extensive processes we were therefore able to restore the trophies back to good order."

However, as Phil explained, the damaged bust needed much more intensive work.

"The bronze head was a different matter,"he added. "It had suffered some heat damage causing severe discolouration and ingraining it with soot and ash. Careful cleaning and refinishing of the original metal was needed to restore it back to its former glory.

Our aim was to keep the items as original as possible through processes of restoration rather than re-manufacturing or re-plating. We are really pleased with the outcome and are proud to be part of this important restoration project."

Our aim was to keep the items as original as possible through processes of restoration rather than re-manufacturing or re-plating. We are really pleased with the outcome and are proud to be part of this important restoration projectNeville Brothers

Amazed

When the items were returned to the band, Mark Wilkinson told 4BR that the players were amazed at what had been achieved.

"We were blown away by the work that the Neville's had done, and we would like to thank them for their time and expertise. It has meant a great deal to the band in what is going to be an immense ongoing process."