EARLY steps have been taken to commemorate the centenary of the First World War with the siting of a new memorial.

The military sacrifice during the Great War will be honoured from August this year to November 2018 and beyond, with particular focus on the role of the Worcestershire Regiment at the Battle of Gheluvelt in 1914, who have already been honoured.

Eagle-eyed visitors to Worcester's Gheluvelt Park may have noticed a new memorial stone recognising the efforts of all the regiment's ranks who served their country at home and overseas.

The memorial will be officially unveiled during a Gheluvelt Day service on Friday, October 31 and the special event will form part of an ambitious campaign of exhibitions, parades, concerts, church services, remembrance events and more across Worcestershire.

Gheluvelt Park was opened on June 17, 1922 to commemorate the achievement of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment on a critical day in the fighting in Belgium in 1914.

A few hundred men from the Worcesters advanced through 1,000 yards of shell-swept ground to recapture Gheluvelt from the Germans at a cost of almost 200 men.

Had Gheluvelt fallen, the way was open for the German army to push on to Ypres and the channel ports not far away.

The programme of events, organised by a large number of local organisations and councils, will also look at the Home Front and the impact of the war on the people left back at home in the county.

For more information, go to WW1worcestershire.co.uk.