HISTORIANS are hoping to secure funding to restore a 100-year-old town centre statue.
The Queen Victoria statue, in the Queen's Gardens, Newcastle, has been in place since 2001.
It previously stood in Station Walks until �10,000 was secured to move it as part of the Millennium celebrations.
And now members of Newcastle's Civic Society are hoping a grant will help them ensure the statue can remain in place for another century.
The cost of restoration work has been estimated at �9,801 and an application for around �2,000 towards the cost is set to be discussed at Newcastle Borough Council's planning committee meeting on Tuesday.
Jim Worgan, below, vice-chairman of the Civic Society, said the group has been lobbying for repairs to the statue for many years.
The 70-year-old, of Florence Street, Newcastle, added: "The society was instrumental in bringing Queen Victoria back to the gardens. We have been in close contact with Newcastle Borough Council and we are very anxious Queen Victoria is restored, as she is not in a very good condition.
"Nothing has ever been done to the statue and water is getting into the stone because it has been neglected over the years.
"It's a Grade II-listed statue so we are keen to preserve it."
The project to restore the statue, which is located within the town centre conservation area, is part of a wider scheme to revamp the surrounding gardens.
And while the grant, if awarded, will only be targeted at the repair of the statue, it will go some way towards helping to match fund the wider scheme.
Group chairman Joan Howe, of Newcastle, said: "We want to make sure that the statue is kept in good condition in future.
"The Civic Society pressed to get the statue relocated and now it is in the right place, it is important that the statue is well kept."
In 2004, attempts to restore the statue to its original colour were rejected.
The Civic Society wanted the borough council to clean up the statue at a cost of �15,000.
Historian Mervyn Edwards, of Wolstanton, said he applauds the efforts of the Civic Society to restore the statue.
The 50-year-old added: "It is in need of restoring as I think the statue would have picked up quite a lot of residue from the over-hanging trees from where it used to stand in Station Walks.
"It is a wonderful thing that it was moved into a central position for all to see and I think it is a centrepiece in the town."
A Newcastle Borough Council spokesman confirmed that the Civic Society were awarded �10,000 through the Conservation and Heritage Fund to relocate the statue in 2001. No further funding has been awarded since.
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