War memorials honouring those who served in the First World War have been rescued and restored by a community group using just £2.50 permanent markers.
The stones were given a new lease of life after Action Shack members were told they would have to fork out thousands of pounds to have the job done by professionals.
The men's shed group meets once a week within the grounds of St John’s Day Centre in Manselton, Swansea, reports WalesOnline.
They used their base to house two old marble First World War memorials after the old United Reform Church at the junction of Carmarthen Road and Convent Street closed.
The group discovered that they were particularly faded and in need of restoration.
But it was initially thought they would have to apply for a grant to carry out the work.
When they sought quotes to complete the job they found it would cost between £3,000 and £5,000.
As a result, the group decided to take it upon themselves to finish the task and bought marker pens for £2.50 to re-ink the inscriptions, having cleaned off the remaining ink first.
One of the memorials is now completed and the second one is halfway done with the aim of completing the project by November 11, in time for memorial services.
New frames are also being constructed for the stones and a booklet is available recounting the story of every name on the memorial.
Gary Elward, who oversees the group, said: "They wanted crazy amounts of money, £5,000, £3,000, so we just decided to do it ourselves.
"One of the guys went to carry out some inquiries and we bought three pens worth £2.50 so we paid less than a tenner instead.
"We've had one of the men working on the inscriptions with a steady hand and some of the other boys building the surrounds for it, varnishing it, making sure it's safe.
"We've been repairing it over the last six weeks. Before that we had to clean them up and mount them.
"It's all about cleaning them up and making them look good.
"Hopefully on November 11 we'll have a service. They'll be protected and mounted within the garden.
"There's a booklet here with everyone's name and explaining all about them.
The Action Shed has been running for four years, notwithstanding a break during Covid, and has around 20 members.
Mr Elward added: "A couple of guys are blind, a couple of guys are autistic - it's all different abilities.
"Some guys want to come in and sit down and have a chat and find out what's going on in the world and others like to get stuck in and do things, make things.
"We also build planters and grow veg - St John's runs a food bank so we grow the vegetables for the food bank as well as run a community transport scheme."
