Ref. 71727-96A permanent tribute to the men who served in Britain's wartime Dad's Army is to be unveiled during a special military weekend being organised by Swindon railway enthusiasts.

The life-size figure of the Home Guardsman has been crafted in steel and concrete by Swindon sculptor Andrew Selwood.

It is his first public commission and will be unveiled at 11am on Saturday, September 11, during the Military Weekend being held at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway's Blunsdon Station.

There, it will stand on permanent guard alongside some of the still existing wartime anti-tank obstacles on the banks of the River Ray which were built to hamper any invasion that Hitler may have launched.

Andrew, 47, spent two months making the Guardsman which he produced by working from wartime photographs. He said: "He is wearing a military uniform complete with greatcoat and tin hat.

"He was commissioned to commemorate the Home Guardsmen who guarded the anti-tank obstacles known as the GHQ Red Stop Line.

"This line ran roughly from Reading to Great Somerford and passed close to the Blunsdon railway site.

"It was put in to stop any German invasion force reaching London and other industrial centres."

Andrew's studio is in Laburnum Road, Pinehurst, where he produced his work which is entitled Waiting.

It was a particularly fitting task for him as his late father, George Selwood, served in the Home Guard during the war.

Said Andrew: "My dad used to guard what was known as The Bellman Hangar once part of Vickers which is now part of the Kingsdown industrial estate."

Waiting has been constructed to be representational and sympathetic to both the subject and the site with its existing anti-tank defences.

As the 60th anniversary of the end of the war approaches, the sculpture is being seen as a stunning and timely addition to Swindon's landmark public sculpture.

Said Andrew: "He is realistic but the emphasis is on what he is made of a steel frame and defensive concrete."

The British Home Guard was formed at one of the darkest moments of the second world war in the aftermath of the military disaster that saw the Nazi victory in France and the costly, both in lives and equipment, evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk.

Martin Vincent