TWO members of the Tavistock branch of The Royal British Legion are to join thousands on a special pilgrimage of remembrance for the centenary of World War One.

Royston Hackney and Malcolm Christie are taking part in the RBL’s Great Pilgrimage 90 from August 5 to 9 — the largest event in the charity’s history — of World War One battlefields which will culminate in a parade and ceremony in Ypres as part of the end of the First World War centenary commemorations.

GP90 will mark 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.

That pilgrimage culminated in a march through Ypres to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Menin Gate Memorial for a ceremony to commemorate the launch of The Hundred Days Offensive and in remembrance of those who never returned.

Royston and Malcolm will represent the Tavistock branch and the local community at the event, as standard bearer and wreath layer respectively.

Royston and Malcolm 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 on August 8, 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, Commonwealth and Northern Europe who are taking part. Once at the Menin Gate, Malcolm will lay a wreath on behalf of the Tavistock community.

Jack May, president of the Tavistock branch of the RBL, 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. The Tavistock branch looks forward to proudly representing Tavistock at the event.’

As local champions of remembrance, the Tavistock branch of the RBL will work in partnership with their community to bring their unique Remembrance message to the Menin Gate, on their wreath, where it will be displayed in a wreath installation for viewing by the general public until the end of August.

The parade will start at midday and the RBL encourages members of the public to make the trip across to Ypres for August 8 and fill the Market Square to watch the parade, One Hundred Days ceremony and then enjoy an afternoon of musical entertainment including the Central Band of the Royal British Legion.