THE ultimate sacrifice paid by the Accrington Pals will soon be further remembered in a town park.

A replica of the Serre Accrington Pals Monument will be built in the rose garden at Haworth Park, Accrington, where residents will be able to go and reflect.

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Almost £10,000 has been given by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to provide a distinctive link to the Somme area, where the Pals fell in battle in July 1916.

Students from Accrington and Rossendale College will be drafted in to lead the project.

Construction students will build the monument and media students will film a documentary.

Pupils from the Hollins Technology College, in Oswaldtwistle, will research information for boards that will be sited at the memorial.

Andy Armiger, from the college, said: “We are thrilled to have received the support of the HLF Heritage Lottery Fund and are moving ahead with our project partners to provide something that will stand as a lasting tribute to the Accrington Pals.

“It is a community project involving all ages. We hope that the young people working on the project will especially gain from their involvement and that it will help them to better understand the sacrifice given on their behalf.

“The memorial will give those members of the local community who are unable to travel to the Somme an opportunity to experience a sense of the original Serre memorial.”

The existing monument is based at the Sheffield Memorial Park, the location of the British front line on July 1, 1916.

It was there than 720 men, the fighting strength of the Pals, left their trenches and advanced across no man’s land towards Serre, only to be met by a hail of bullets from German trenches.

Less than 100 men answered their name at roll-call that evening.

The memorial was built from Accrington brick and dedicated in 1991.

It marks the site where the Pals advanced towards German lines around 200 metres away.

Nearby, across what was no man’s land is Queen’s Cemetery, where 50 Pals are buried.

Council leader Miles Parkinson said: “This project is to commemorate the First World War and it is very well appreciated that we have something that’s a replica of what’s on the battlefield.

“The memorial will be a lasting reminder and it’s fitting it’s going to be in a splendid garden.”