A FIELD of Remembrance at Lydiard Park will open to the public for a special service tomorrow.

The Walled Garden on the Lydiard Park estate has been covered in more than 15,000 crosses and commemorative markers to remember those who have given their lives in the First World War and other conflicts.

It is one of six Royal British Legion Fields of Remembrance planted by volunteers across the country.

Alistair Maxwell, area manager for the Royal British Legion, told the Adver: "The actual opening will be very memorable. There will be a reverence about the ceremony, and it will be a very poignant place for remembrance.

"A lot of people take great comfort in going there, remembering those that they have lost, and those they can still remember.

"We think of remembrance as being First World War and World War Two, but there's a huge connection to the most recent conflict, and that is reflected at Lydiard."

The field has been designed to allow the public to honor those who gave their lives and families to find their loved one's marker.

Each remembrance tribute also carries a personal message to someone that lost their life during service.

"We plant the crosses in blocks depending on where they've come from. Some will be in regimental blocks, some in geographical ones, so people can walk around and pay their respects," added Alistair.

"We encourage people to come along to remember. It's a link to the past, and a link into the future about the important work we do."

More than 120,000 wooden crosses will be planted across the six other Remembrance Fields, including one in St James's Park in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Gateshead, and Staffordshire.

The service begins at 10.30am and ends at 11.30 on Friday. A daily service will be held from then on.

The field will be open to members of the public to visit and pay their respects until a week after Remembrance Sunday on November 18.

The Royal British Legion is the country’s biggest armed forces charity and provides care and support to serving and past members of the British Armed forces.

It is the national custodian of Remembrance with its emblem being the iconic red poppy. The tradition started in 1928 when a group of disabled veterans began pushing poppies into the ground around a wooden cross for an unknown British soldier outside St Margarate's Church in Westminster.