LOCAL members of the Royal British Legion will set off to Belgium on Sunday to represent Wantage at a First World War commemoration.

Air Cadet James Webster, 19, and former RAF officer David Drew, 71, will join thousands attending the Legion’s ‘Great Pilgrimage 90’, on a tour from August 5 – 9.

The pair will enjoy a day of parades and two days of battlefield tours before laying a wreath on behalf of the community.

Mr Drew said: “I have been a member of the Wantage branch of the legion since 1980, so it means an awful lot.

"I will not only be representing Wantage but also as a county president for Berkshire and the Vale of White Horse.

“It is going to be one of the main events of my legion life.

“There is going to be a lot of marching around and standing around.”

Mr Webster, meanwhile, recently won a competition for 'best national cadet standard bearer'.

The pilgrimage of remembrance to First World War battlefields culminates in a ceremony in Ypres, as part of the end of this year's centenary commemorations.

The event will be one of the largest in the charity’s history.

‘GP90’ marks 90 years since the original Royal British Legion Pilgrimage in 1928, which saw 11,000 World War One veterans and war widows visit the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium, a decade after the conflict ended.

The Wantage pair will tour some of the same battlefields and cemeteries visited by those on the 1928 Pilgrimage before marching along the original route through Ypres to the Menin Gate, bearing their branch standard and a wreath.

They will join more than 2,200 other Legion representatives and dignitaries, including civic and military guests from the UK, the Commonwealth and Northern Europe.

Once at the Menin Gate on August 8, Mr Drew will lay a wreath on behalf of the Wantage community.

The momento will include a picture with the names of the ‘Fallen of Wantage in the Great War’, set against a picture of Wantage’s King Alfred statue and the words ‘lest we forget’.

A second card with the names of soldiers from the surrounding area will also be included.

The remembrance message will remain on the gate, in a wreath installation, until the end of August.

Major Jim Sibbald, chairman of the Wantage branch of The Royal British Legion, said: “Great Pilgrimage 90 is a unique opportunity for the Legion community to come together and bear our standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of the First World War.

“Wantage’s Branch looks forward with pride to representing the town at the event.”

The Legion is encouraging members of the public to make the trip to Ypres for next Wednesday’s ceremony, with the parade beginning at midday.

The market square is expected to be busy as people gather to watch the parade, One Hundred Days ceremony and music including the Legion’s Central Band.