THREE former Royal Marines are set to mark the centenary of one of the bloodiest offensives in history by attempting an unprecedented endurance march to the battlefield.

After yomping 650 miles over 23 consecutive days from northern England to the Somme, in France, Christiaan Creaby, Michael Anderson and Mark Warrener plan to plant 19,240 remembrance crosses to honour the British soldiers who were killed on the first day of the battle.

The former servicemen will be joined on stages of the march by North Yorkshire children and business leaders as they collect names of First World War veterans for the crosses, to create a poignant display of remembrance at the site.

Pupils from Masham Primary School will carry wreaths through towns of Pal battalions, which lost a significant number of lives on the opening day of the Somme.

The challenge, which is being sponsored by Northallerton-based retailer Lewis & Cooper and will raise funds for the Royal British Legion, follows Mr Creaby leading a fundraising trek to Masham last year to honour the Leeds Pals, a battalion that trained near the town before going to the Western Front.

Lewis & Cooper director Bettina Bell is also expected to join the ex-servicemen for part of the march and will present a Yorkshire-themed gift to a farmer for allowing his land to be used for the memorial.

Mr Creaby, who is calling for people to become involved in the memorial by nominating names of veterans of the conflict, said he had been inspired to undertake the challenge after learning his great, great uncle had fought at the Somme, a year before being killed in action.

He said: "I won't pretend I know what they went through, but the numbers of people killed gives us a small idea.

"While it was awful for the men in the first wave that went over the top and were machine gunned down, it must have been worse for those in the second and third waves who saw that and knew what was coming up.

"As they went over the top the soldiers would have been carrying at least 30lbs, so we are going to carry that weight with us on our march."

Mr Creaby said the men, who will set off on June 9, did not know what to expect as a similar fundraising endurance march had never been done before.

He added: "It is going to take us all day to plant the 19,240 crosses, but it only took a couple of hours for those men to be killed."

For details, justgiving.com/thesommeyomp or thesommeyomp.com