A POIGNANT project has been launched in Darlington to remember the town’s fallen heroes of World War One.

Like many towns, Darlington suffered devastating losses during the First World War and of the thousands of young men who enlisted, more than 1,100 never returned.

Now ‘A Poppy for a Solder’ has been launched at Darlington Library’s Centre for Local Studies, in which local people are invited to find out more about an individual soldier and label a poppy in his memory.

Hundreds of knitted and crocheted poppies have been donated by local crafters to support the project and visitors can take part until Remembrance Day on November 11.

The poppies will then remain on display until the end of November.

Local historian Stephen Nicholson has played a key role in developing the project, having spent the last decade compiling a database of information about the local men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War.

Using resources at the Centre for Local Studies and the National Archives, Mr Nicholson has recorded the names, addresses and occupations of each of the men who died.

Wherever possible, he has also included a photograph of the man and an extract from the relevant battalion’s war diary written on the day of his death.

The project was launched today (October 1) by Chris Lloyd, The Northern Echo’s deputy editor and Mr Stephenson, who named the first poppy.

Mr Nicholson said: “I felt it important to have a local record of their names, which could be accessed by their families and others to find out more about the men who sacrificed their lives in this conflict.

“The project to name a poppy in honour of each of the town’s fallen heroes is a fitting tribute to them and I’m honoured to be invited to name the first one.”

As part of the project, the Centre for Local Studies will also be hosting a series of talks about WW1, which began today (1 October) with Chris Lloyd presenting ‘Heroes and a Villain – Darlington and the First World War’.

On October 15, at 2pm, Harry Moses will talk about ‘The Fighting Bradfords – the story of the four Bradford Brothers’ and on November 12, at 2pm, Stephen Nicholson will present ‘The War Diary of the 5th Battalion Durham Light Infantry’.

Tickets for each talk are £2 and must be booked in advance at the Centre for Local Studies.