A THREE year campaign to remember more than 150 people from Englefield Green who fell fighting for their country climaxed with the official unveiling of an extraordinary new memorial at St Jude's Church.

The beautiful new seven granite pillars stand in an attractive piazza and contain the lovingly inscribed names of everyone living or working in the village who gave their life - over a century of sacrifice.

Cllr Mike Kusneraitis - who represents Englefield Green West on Runnymede Borough Council - said it all started nearly three years ago when he attended a Remembrance Day service in the village with former Coldstream Guardsman John Scott MBE.

The two were standing near the village's Memorial Cross which contains the words Their Name Liveth Ever More.

Cllr Kusneraitis said: "John turned to me and said 'who are they, what are their names? We realised we did not know. None of the names of the people from the village who died were actually recorded on the memorial."

They were joined by villager Kevin Barry and the three men determined to create a new memorial big enough to have the name of every single villager who made the ultimate sacrifice.

It was the start of an intense fund raising campaign still continuing now.

Cllr Kusneraitis said: "We were warned that any new memorial must not obscure the church which is a listed building.

"Then architect Chris Palomba who lives in the village offered to help. We fell in love with his design."

But that was only the start. The names of the villagers who had sacrificed their lives had to be tracked down.

Dedicated supporters from organisations and individuals across the village rallied round to help and a massive fund raising campaign was launched to create the new memorial.

The Lord Lieutenant of Surrey Michael More-Molyneux laid the first wreath on Friday, followed by the Mayor of Runnymede Cllr Alan Alderson, Captain Warren Bairstow RAN - naval advisor at the Australian High Commissioner and Lt Col Simon Rushem, chief of staff at the Canadian High Commission.

The event was attended by about 250 adult villagers, while 120 children from the village's three schools each carried the name of one of the fallen. One of them read a poem written by members of the Field family in memory of Ernest Edward Field who died exactly 100 years before to the day.