Thank you to the local branch of the Royal British Legion for the photos of the service to remember the war dead at the Radstock memorial on Sunday.

The day commemorates the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.

So it is especially poignant in Radstock which was the home town of the 100th casualty of the Iraq conflict. Corporal Gordon Pritchard, 31, who served with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, died in a blast in Umm Qasr, Basra province, on 31 January 2006.

It is held on the second Sunday in November (the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War I in 1918.

The war memorial in Radstock was created in 1925 for those who died in WWI, with later additions for the Second World War and the Iraq conflict.

The history of the war memorial in Radstock

Plans for a war memorial in Radstock started at a vestry meeting of St Nicholas' Church, on 23 April 1919, for a memorial placed in the church. The Parochial Church Council struggled to raise funds, and the memorial was not finished until 1924. Also in 1924, a War Committee was formed, to raise funds for a new memorial, to be placed in Victoria Square.

The memorial was designed by Messrs Cole and Barton, of Radstock, constructed by Mr H J Tovey, of Midsomer Norton and the bronze panels were cast by Mr F Humphreys of Midsomer Norton. The monument cost £267 12s 3d.

The monument was unveiled on 17 June 1925, by the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, the Marquis of Bath KG, and dedicated by Canon A N Bax (who was also chair of the War Committee).

Two plaques were added to the memorial following the Second World War, and a third added to commemorate Cpl Pritchard. The memorial was moved to its present site in 2004, and renovated in 2014.