HEWN from the local countryside, just like the heroes it is intended to honour – this is the chunk of Derbyshire stone which will become a memorial to local men who fell in World War One.

It has been picked out by members of the Sherwood Foresters Western Front Memorial Committee, who have been driving a £14,000 campaign for a battleground memorial to more than 11,000 men from the regiment killed in the Great War.

One of the aims of the appeal was to cut the memorial from a single piece of Derbyshire stone.

"Local stone for a local regiment," was committee member Major John Cotterill's promise.

And at the weekend Major Cotterill, a serving officer with the 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters), together with former Foresters Cliff Housley and Ian Edwards, travelled to Springwood Quarry at Alport, Derbyshire, to choose the perfect lump of rock.

Advised by stonemason Mark Eaton, the committee made their selection and it is hoped work will soon get under way.

It is planned to unveil the stone at the Tyne Cot war cemetery near the Belgian town of Ypres next autumn.

Fundraising was launched in September this year.

Mr Housley, committee secretary, said: "We are delighted with the most excellent response we have received to date."

Local authorities across Notts and Derbys have given financial support to the project, recognising the part played by men of the two counties who fought with the Sherwood Foresters in the 1914-18 war.

In addition many individuals have also made donations in memory of a relative who died on the Western Front.

Major Cotterill is confident that the stone mason will be able to begin work in the new year.

The public can contribute by sending a cheque payable to RHQ Mercian, with a covering letter/slip stating "For Western Front Memorial" to the Sherwood Foresters Western Front Memorial Committee, Foresters House, Chetwynd Barracks, Chilwell, Notts NG9 5HA.