Saxmundham memorial field rededicated for centenary

Gates have been installed at the Memorial Field in Saxmundham for its centenary

A field commemorating soldiers from a town who died in World War One has been rededicated.

The Memorial Field on Rendham Road, Saxmundham, in Suffolk, was given to the town in 1922, but the planned gates to it were never installed.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the gift, the town council arranged for them to be installed plus other additions.

Councillor Tim Lock said he was pleased the "vision had become a reality".

Mr Lock said that in 1922, there had been "a lot of controversy" in the town about how soldiers from the Great War (1914-1918) should be honoured, with some favouring a more traditional memorial plinth.

One hundred-year-old voting papers show the town's residents were asked if they wanted a memorial outside the Market Hall in the High Street, or a Memorial Field

He added that the argument "rumbled on for a while" before they finally decided on a memorial field but the proposed gates were never completed.

"We decided as it was the centenary that we really needed to address that now... it [had been] far too long," he said.

"It was felt the field was given to the town and it wasn't really befitting what it was actually given to the town for, it wasn't really symbolising the Great War, so we really wanted to complete it as it was intended back in 1922."

History boards are part of the revamped tribute to the town's fallen soldiers of the Great War

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [e-mail]