A project to restore hundreds of graves of servicemen and women is nearing completion. 

Former military policeman and councillor for Endlebury ward, Roy Berg, has spent the last twelve months researching the people buried in 322 commonwealth war graves spread across the 42 acres of Chingford Mount Cemetery in Old Church Road. 

Around 130 men and women buried at the site died serving the country during the First World War, while 180 were killed in the Second World War. 

Cllr Berg, who served as a military policeman in the RAF for 34 years, decided to embark on the project following a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cross of Sacrifice in the cemetery on Remembrance Sunday last year.

Speaking about his motivation for the project, he said: "I lost friends and loved ones during my time in the service, but that is the nature of the job. 

"At the time of the First and Second World War, if you were in the armed forces, you did not get the respect or exposure that you get today. 

"It is very important we remember and pay tribute to the dead, as they are the ones who made living possible." 

Cllr Berg's research revealed there were many more graves in the cemetery than he first thought. 

He added: "My granddaughter suggested we should lay a flower on each grave so I started researching where they were and how many. 

"Thinking there would be around 30 graves, it turned out there are 322 graves. 

"I was rather disgusted at the state they were in so it started from there." 

Each headstone has been cleaned up, re-aligned and the areas surrounding the graves re-grassed.   

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission funded the restoration and flowers which will be laid at the graves during a ceremony tomorrow and Sunday were paid for through the Endlebury ward community fund.

To coincide with remembrance services, 120 pupils from Chingford Foundation School in Nevin Drive will lay carnations and a poppy cross on 211 graves at the cemetery tomorrow. 

The remaining 111 graves will be decorated with a rose and poppy cross on Sunday, after a service at St Peter and St Paul Parish Church in Chingford.   

In the coming weeks and months, a further 26 headstones will be replaced.