PEOPLE ranging of all ages including veterans gathered exactly 100 years after three men from the town died on a single day in the Battle of the Somme.

They, along with nearly 200 servicemen from Ludlow who died in both world wars and the Korean War are at last engraved together in one place, on stone slabs around the Ludlow War Memorial.

It was just over a year ago that shop workers Margaret Edwards and Jean Parker from Poyners in Broad Street started a campaign to have the names of all the town's fallen engraved on paving stones around the town War Memorial.

In just over a year £5,700 had been raised towards the £7,000 needed for the job. It has originally been thought that the engraving could begin in the autumn with the memorial ready for the Remembrance Day commemoration in November.

Instead it was ready to mark the 100th anniversary

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of the death of three Ludlow men on July 14 during the Battle of the Somme, thanks to extra fundraising events.

Margaret Edwards and Jean Parker decided in 2014 to form a committee to raise funds to mark the centenary of WW1. The great loss of men serving in WWI, WWII and the Korean War from the Ludlow area left many families without much loved family members.

It is their wish that all the Ludlow soldiers, from the three wars, be remembered by having the names engraved onto the paving slabs surrounding the Ludlow War Memorial in Castle Square.

They discovered that the cost of the work would be in the order of £7,000 but were not put off by the bill and their faith has been justified thanks to the support of businesses and individuals from around the town.

The names of more than 180 fatalities from the three wars have been inscribed on the paving slabs and will remain there as a lasting tribute and memory for the local families who wish to have a place to visit and remember.

This includes a number of names that for some reason or other are not included on the memorial in St Laurence Church.

Fortunately, no servicemen or women from Ludlow and the surrounding area have died in the intervening years since the Korean War of the early 1950s.

Treasure and Son of Ludlow has also donated a seat in the area of the Ludlow War Memorial; also from the funds raised a tree will be planted in the Castle Gardens.

People around the war memorial for the unveiling included some who lived through and remember those that died in the Second World War and the Korean War.

For others like the children from the town who read out the names, the dead cannot be any more than fading images from old photographs.

The ceremony included a short service as well as performances from Ludlow Male Voice Choir and the Town Band.

People with special memories included Diane Edwards, Jean Parker and Margaret Edwards who recognised the the names of their great uncles John and William Baron and William Charmer who fell in WWI.

Phyllis Richards, Norman Wright and Celia Anthony were able to see the names of their uncles Stanley Wright and George Badlan who died in WWII.

Doreen Lewis remembered her husband’s uncles George B and Ernest A Lewis who died in in 1914-16 conflict.

Annette Burgoyne, committee member, was able to show her mother Hilda Trow, where the name of her great uncle Charles Powell is on the memorial.

Daphne French found the name of her uncle Jack French, who was in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.

Thursa Sibbons showed her daughter Carmen Everall and granddaughter Sophie Everall the name of her great uncle Thomas Cox who was another victim of the First World War.

Tom Waterfield, pointed out the name of his great, great uncle William Walter Brown, who died in WWI, to some of his relatives.

Emily Thomas, Margaret Davies and Bill Bradley, wearing his brother Richard’s medals, pay their respects to uncle Joseph Bradley killed in World War One and brother Richard Bradley who died in the Second World War.

Sheila Charmers, Colin, Trevor, Cecil and Bernard Pitt were able to pay their respects to their brother Dennis who died during the Korean War.

Kevin Price, the acting Rector of Ludlow led the religious part of the ceremony.

Students from Ludlow College and Ludlow School read out the names of the fallen and Mansel Leake from the Ludlow Concert Band played the last Post.