Members of the Leytonstone branch of the Royal British Legion will travel to Belgium this weekend for a pilgrimage of remembrance.

Andy Milner and Alan Calder will join thousands of others for the Great Pilgrimage 90 in Ypres from Sunday to Thursday, August 5 to 9.

GP90 will mark 90 years since the original Royal British Legion Pilgrimage in 1928, which saw 11,000 WWI veterans and war widows visit the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium, a decade after the conflict ended.

That pilgrimage will culminate in a march through Ypres to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Menin Gate Memorial for a ceremony to commemorate the launch of The Hundred Days Offensive and in remembrance of those who never returned.

The event is expected to be one of the largest in the history of The Royal British Legion.

Representing the Leytonstone branch, Mr Milner will act as standard bearer and Mr Calder’s role will be to lay wreaths.

Mr Calder, treasurer of the Leytonstone branch of The Royal British Legion, said: “Great Pilgrimage 90 is a unique opportunity for the Legion community to come together and bear our standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of the First World War.

“The Leytonstone branch looks forward to proudly representing Leytonstone at the event.”

After touring the battlefields and cemeteries, the pair will march in a parade to the Menin Gate. Here, Mr Calder will lay a wreath on behalf of the Leytonstone community.

The men will join more than 2,200 other Legion representatives and dignitaries, including civic and military guests from the UK, Commonwealth and Northern Europe.

The RBL is encouraging people to make the trip across to Ypres in time for the parade which starts at noon on Wednesday, August 8.

For full details email chairman Keith Franklyn on keith.rbl887@gmail.com