A father and daughter will resume their pioneering war graves project in Worksop and Retford with the help of schoolchildren, for this year's Remembrance Day.

Retford's Michael Szarelis, and his daughter Elizabeth, have begun arrangements for 138 veterans images to be installed on graves in three locations across Worksop and Retford again, ahead of Remembrance Day and The Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal that will start this year on Thursday, October 22.

This has become an annual event for the committed pair, who say that the number of installations may increase if they receive new photographic images of veterans, either through coverage via social media or while continuing to do their own research.

In the week beginning October 12, prior to the school half-term holidays, schoolchildren will place images on graves and memorials.

Photographs will once again be placed on the graves of war veterans in Retford and Worksop cemeteries.

placeholder image — Photographs will once again be placed on the graves of war veterans in Retford and Worksop cemeteries.

In Worksop Cemetery, on October 14 at 10am, 30 students fromthe Holy Family Catholic Primary School will walk from school to install 70 veterans' photographs across the cemetery, sometimes with messages, by attaching the images to graves or family memorials.

Similarly, Ordsall Primary School pupils will install 23 veterans' images in All Hallows Churchyard Ordsall, on Friday, October 16 at 11.30am.

In Retford Cemetery, pupils from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School students will place 45 veterans' images on Monday, October 12 at 1.30pm.

It is hoped that students from Rampton Primary School will join the activity, and any other schools across Bassetlaw are invited by Michael and Elizabeth to get involved with the installations.

The photographs are a poignant reminder of the servicemen who were lost.

Invitations have been extended to the Worksop and Retford branches of the RBL, and representatives of Bassetlaw District Council, and members of the local community are also warmly invited to attend the events.

It was back in 2018 that the Szarelis duo first drew up detailed remembrance maps for local cemeteries and churchyards, then their painstaking work led to permanent interpretive boards and easy-to-follow guidebooks tracking local veterans across both Retford and Worksop.

Their detailed research has also helped to correct some official records, with updated details and spellings for local service casualties with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Nottinghamshire Roll of Honour.

For more information, or to help with the project, email Michael at [email protected]