THE long awaited Wootton Bassett War Memorial is due to be unveiled with due pomp and ceremony in October.

For years, the town's war veterans had to make do with a makeshift cenotaph on Armistice Day.

But a five-year fundraising campaign, started by former Army cadet Jay Cunningham, has finally paid off.

Jay, who was 15 at the time, helped form the War Memorial Committee, which won the backing of local people.

The memorial will be unveiled on October 3 by North Wiltshire MP James Gray. A parade, led by a band, will move off from Ridgeway House around 2.45pm, and then march along the High Street.

The unveiling ceremony and flypast take place at 3pm which will be followed by a two minute silence and then a speech by Mr Gray.

The commemoration day was made possible thanks to a £1,000 donation from RAF Lyneham, which took the total raised to £14,000.

The base for the 3ft 6in structure, which will stand in the High Street, was installed in 2001. The sculpture of a hand holding a globe will be added before the unveiling ceremony.