A VILLAGE has created its own memorial to honour the three local men who lost their lives in the First World War — after discovering that no memorial had ever been erected in their memory.

The project honouring soldiers Arthur Piper, 21, his borther William Piper 28, and George Westcott, 21, has taken the community four years to bring to fruition.

The memorial hsa been put in place in St Peter’s Church in Dowland ahead of a special open event this weekend (October 21, 22 and 23) and the following weekend (October 28, 29 and 30). On those days, the church will be open to all from 10.30am to 5pm, with free parking, free entry and refreshments available.

The memorial features a life-sized soldier lying at rest in a large seat, forged from metal in a workshop in the village, encircled by beautiful handmade flowers. There will also be a cascade of poppies from the tower

Susie Dunn, from the project, explained: ‘Four years ago we found out that there were three soldiers from our small rural parish of Dowland who were killed in World War One. As Dowland has no war memorial, not even a plaque in the church or anything at all to remember them, a group of us felt very strongly that this should be put right.

‘As our soldiers were all farmers, born in the parish, we wanted a memorial to have a rural feel, so decided to make something ourselves in the parish as we felt this would be more meaningful. The memorial is actually a large seat and is handmade from metal in the workshop in Dowland and designed to resemble the farm gate of a Devonshire field. We have incorporated poppies on either side for remembrance and three helmets hang over the gate, one for each of our soldiers.

‘To accompany this memorial, there will be 5,000 poppies in the churchyard, cascading down the tower, out of the windows and encircling the memorial seat. Inside the church are over 3,000 handmade flowers creating a timeline, telling the story of the young men and their short lives. These flowers are all handmade of fabric, clay, paper and wool by local people in remembrance of our soldiers.’

She said that work had started in earnest at the start of the year, bringing together local businesses and individuals.

‘As you can imagine it has been a mammouth project but one that we wer all motivated to achieve so future generations have the knowledge of the sacrifices they made.’

Four Piper brothers went to war, with Arthur and William dying in conflict while the third brother, Harry, dying after the end of the war from influenza. While none of the Piper family remain in the village, George Westcott’s relatives still farm in the parish.