MEMBERS of Sir Winston Churchill's family joined local people and visitors to rededicate the grave of the great wartime leader.

The service of rededication yesterday for the Churchill family graves at Bladon churchyard, near Woodstock, followed a £350,000 restoration scheme.

More than 20,000 visitors visit the church every year and the site had become "a disgrace," according to the former prime minister's grandson, the former MP Winston Churchill.

"This restoration has fulfilled all our expectations. I am thrilled by it," he said. "It had become a muddy quagmire and we received letters from all over the world saying it was a disgrace."

He was joined by other family members including the Duke of Marlborough, his son the Marquess of Blandford and Lady Soames. The open air service was conducted by Bladon vicar the Rev Roger Humphreys.

The restoration, carried out by Long Hanborough stonemasons Joslins and designed by architect William Bertram, uses terracing to prevent the gravestones slipping on a churchyard incline.

The Rev Roger Humphreys said: "The site contains graves of both the great and the humble. As well as Sir Winston and his wife Clementine, we are also rededicating the graves of a family housemaid, an estate henman and a gardener."

Also present were two trumpeters of the band of the Royal Lancers - the same regiment that Sir Winston served in at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.

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