A GREEK god who has watched over Cockermouth for the past century has flown her plinth and been taken to Surrey for repairs.

The iconic bronze statue of Victory is expected to land back in February.

The statue above the war memorial was deemed unsafe earlier in the year. Scaffolding was erected in May until it could be taken down.

The town council was delighted to secure a grant of £17,000 from the War Memorials Trust to pay for specialist restoration work.

Andrew Kepczyk, of conservation architects Lloyd Evans Prichard, was in town this week as the contractors took the statue off its plinth.

"When we came to survey it earlier in the year we had a cherry picker, we rocked it and the whole thing wobbled," he said.

"The connections to the plinth were unstable, also joints in the brass are fractured.

"It's not surprising since it's been up there the best part of 100 years. It's also fairly exposed."

The statue will be taken to Surrey, where it will be taken to pieces, repaired and secured. The plinth masonry will be repaired on site.

"It should be returned in February and can then be put together," he said.

"It points towards the original railway station, greeting the returning troops with the wreath of victory. So she has to go back in exactly the same orientation."

Watching the statue being dismantled was William Goulding, of Brigham, whose grandfather, William Bowe, fought in Boer War in 1900.

"It's so important to maintain these, it's our heritage," he said.