A MEMORIAL to soldiers from Dorset who died in the First World War is finally being created following a three-year fundraising campaign by members of the Western Front Association and their supporters.

The Dorset Regiment Great War Memorial committee raised £23,000 to pay for the monument, which will be crafted by a stonemason from Bockhampton.

The memorial is due to be finished next month and will be located in the village of Authuille, near the River Somme in France.

The village is in rolling farmland similar to Dorset and was the location of the 1st Battalion The Dorsetshire Regiment's attack on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916.

A ceremony to dedicate the memorial will be held on Saturday, May 7, next year.

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Cooper, 66, of Tincleton, the honorary treasurer of the memorial committee, said: "We are determined that such a memorial should be placed where the men of Dorset fought and died. The county has agreed to the Dorset crest on the memorial, which will also display the Dorsetshire Regiment crest and selected Battle Honours."

Committee member Major Nick Speakman, 73, of Stoford, said: "The memorial is to commemorate all those who fell with the Dorsets in the First World War on the Western Front. We raised £23,000 which will see it completed and more is required for maintenance and insurance costs.

"The local branch of the Dorset and Wiltshire Western Front Association raised money through its members, relatives and people of Dorset. We had money from all over the country including grandsons of people who served in the First World War. It was touching.

"It's going near the Lonsdale cemetery, which is about a kilometre from the Thiepval memorial, which is one of the biggest memorials there marking the soldiers who have no known grave. It's in an emotional and appropriate spot."

The obelisk is in three parts. Standing at a total height of two metres, each block is made of Portland stone and weighs just over half a tonne.

Sculptor Alex Evans of Stoneform, a two-person company based at Duck Farm in Bockhampton, said: "It was a fantastic opportunity. We were very keen to do the commission. We were chosen because we are a small and local company and could give the necessary attention to detail when it's done by hand. We want to produce a beautiful piece of work that will last."

Stone carver Zoe Cull of Stoneform said: "It was a great honour to be asked to do it. When you get a job like that it's more than just a job and because we live and work in Dorset it's a great privilege. No one cannot be touched by the stories of the First World War, although it's a long time ago it should and will never be forgotten and now there's going to be a specific monument remembering the Dorset soldiers."

Dorset is one of the few counties without a First World War memorial in France.

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the fund can send a cheque payable to The Dorset Memorial Fund to The Keep Military Museum, 1 Bridport Road, Dorchester, DT1 1 RN.