A HEARTBROKEN family are at war with the council over cherished keepsakes they kindly donated to Chorley's Astley Hall in the 70s.

Not only have they JUST discovered that one of the treasured Boer War souvenirs was stolen 10 years ago - but they are now locked in an upsetting dispute with council chiefs after trying to get the other property returned!

Mrs Sheila Dewhurst, aged 59, and her son Stephen, 39, say they are disgusted after generously handing over the 100-year-old memorabilia.

The souvenirs - a silver pocket watch, war diary and photograph - were bequeathed to the hall in 1979.

They belonged to Mrs Dewhurst's late father William Hart who had been given them by his father Oliver Hart, a Private with the 1st Battalion Royal Lancs Regiment in the Boer War.

But when Stephen recently asked to see the items he was told the watch had been stolen from its display box in 1986 and discovered the other items had not even been put on show.

"I said I didn't know about the theft and my mother didn't either," complained Stephen. "It is unacceptable."

He added: "We want them back to put on display at the regimental museum in Fulwood. But they are saying we can't have them because there's a new clause now in the Museums Act."

Distressed Mrs Dewhurst, of Chorley Road, Adlington, who later handed a Boer War knife to the hall, said: "I just want the items back so we can put them in the barracks, not Astley Hall. I don't want them to be involved at all and I want to know why we weren't told of the theft so we could have looked at car boot sales and in antique shops for the watch."

She added: "They cannot belong to them if we didn't sign anything. This has knocked me for six and made me poorly."

The family are now printing leaflets asking antiques dealers to get in touch if they find the watch.

Roger Stagles, Chorley Borough Council's director of community services, said: "The council is very sorry that they weren't informed of the theft. In her place, I would have expected the local authority to have told me about it."

He added that the theft was recorded at the time, that the items were gifts, not a loan, and that new procedures were in place regarding donations.

He concluded: "I very much regret the situation has happened and wish it hadn't."

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