ONE hundred years after the end of the First World war, the silent soldiers who have passed into history, but not from memory, are returning to the market town of Ledbury, thanks to the support of the local community.

Haunting life-sized cut-outs of soldiers may be found all over the town, and they have been located in places actually associated with the home-coming of real Ledbury servicemen from the conflict.

Then are ten silent soldiers in total in Ledbury, and the £1000 project has been funding with donations from local businesses and individuals, from the Royal British Legion and by organisations including Ledbury Rotary.

Brenda Hill, a long-standing member of Ledbury Royal British Legion said: "The soldiers have been placed where they would have been, upon their return to Ledbury.

"For example, there were a lot of cottages in Bye Street, where a lot of soldiers lived before the war; and where the Co-op is, in New Street, was the Drill Hall where the men enlisted."

There are also two silent soldiers on the recreation ground, because the long-vanished "Ledbury Halt" train station was there, from which soldiers would have embarked and returned.

Other silent soldiers are to be found at the parish church, and by the flagpole outside St Katherine's Alms Houses.

The silent soldiers project is a national campaign, to pay tribute to the soldiers who returned, after the First World War, and those who did not.

Ledbury Royal British Legion has been informed that the town's silent soldiers can remain in situ until the end of December.

In total, 85 men from Ledbury died as casualties during the First World War.