A TRAVELLING statue commemorating soldiers who perished in the First World War is coming to East Lancashire.

The Every Man Remembered statue was unveiled in Cardiff city centre in April, 2015 and has since made appearances in Edinburgh and London’s Trafalgar Square.

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Now it has been confirmed the statue will be in Blackburn, in front of the town hall, from June 27 to July 11, coinciding with the Battle of the Somme commemoration period.

The famous Accrington Pals, including many soldiers from neighbouring East Lancashire towns such as Burnley, Blackburn and Chorley, went over the top at the start of the bloodiest battle of the conflict at 7.20am on July 1, 1916.

Within 30 minutes, 585 men of the 724-strong 11th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment became casualties, 235 killed and 350 wounded.

They were the first of more than one million Allied casualties, 57,470 British on the first day, to die or be seriously injured in the 141-day battle.

The statue promotes the Royal British Legion’s campaign which urges the public to pay personal tributes to the 1.1 million Commonwealth servicemen and women who died during the 1914 to 1918 conflict.

The striking statue is based on the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey and stands on a block of limestone from the Somme area of Picardy in France.

To mark the occasion of the unveiling of the sculpture, the band of The King’s Division will play a selection of favourite songs from the First World War at a free lunchtime concert in the square at 1pm. Stephen Barnett, Royal British Legion spokesman, said: “As the national custodian of remembrance, we hope the sculpture will act as a focal point for modern-day remembrance during these centenary years.”