Aimee, 15, travels to the battlefield for family's sake

A DERBYSHIRE schoolgirl is preparing to share the story of her great-great-grandfather as part of a ceremony in Belgium to honour local men killed in the First World War.

The event, on Saturday, marks the end of a year-long campaign to remember more than 11,400 men of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment, including many from Derbyshire, who fell on the Western Front.

And as part of the unique battlefield ceremony, in the town of Ypres, Melbourne schoolgirl Aimee Halliwell, 15, will speak about her great-great-grandfather, killed in battle in 1915.

She will join civic leaders, county dignitaries, military personnel and descendants of the fallen, and cross the Channel to take part.

The key moment will come on Saturday morning at the vast Tyne Cot British and Commonwealth War Cemetery, when the Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Willie Tucker, and his Nottinghamshire counterpart, Sir Andrew Buchanan, will unveil a memorial to the regiment's dead, carved from Derbyshire stone.

It is at this service that the Chellaston School pupil will talk about her great-great-grandfather, Forester Private Archibald Orme, who died, aged 31.

And she will be watched by an expected audience of more than 500 people, including the Deputy Prime Minister of Flanders, Geert Bourgoise, and senior Army officers.

"Now it is getting so close, I am getting quite nervous, but I am also looking forward to it, said Aimee. "My grandmother and mother are helping me.

"When we get there, we are going to visit my great-great-grandfather's grave.

"It shows that it is not just older people are interested. It matters to everybody. People died for our country and for what we have got today. I think his story is really inspiring."

Aimee was chosen to be one of two teenagers taking part in the event after her grandma, Eileen Hardy, 73, from Kings Newton, saw a story in the Derby Telegraph, asking for volunteers.

Private Orme was her grandfather and she had told Aimee his story. There will also be performances at the ceremony by the choir and orchestra from Repton School, who are travelling to Ypres to unveil a plaque in St George's Memorial Church to the 355 old boys killed in the First World War.

The weekend events will begin at dusk tomorrow with the laying of wreaths at the Menin Gate, in Ypres, as a Belgian team of buglers plays The Last Post.

Following Saturday's unveiling of the £14,000 Foresters memorial, paid for by gifts from Derbyshire and Notts councils and individuals, attention will switch to the Passchendaele Museum in the nearby village of Zonnebeke, where the Sherwood Foresters Memorial Committee will present a stone plaque to recognise the museum's co-operation.

The High Sheriffs of Derbyshire and Notts, Sir Henry Every and Michael Rowen, will jointly plant a sapling descended from the Major Oak, in Sherwood Forest, to strengthen ties between the two counties and the community where so many local men fell in battle.

The weekend has been organised by the three-man memorial committee of Major John Cotterill of 2Mercian, the regiment which has inherited the Foresters' proud history, and retired Sherwood Foresters NCOs Cliff Housley and Eddie Edwards.

The Mayor of Derby, Councillor Sean Marshall, will be among the civic dignitaries travelling to Ypres.

He said: "Derby City Council had no hesitation in supporting the appeal for the memorial.

"A World War One memorial of this nature is long overdue and its seems appropriate that it is unveiled this year, as we have seen the final passing of that generation."