A pensioner is pleading with authorities to show Upchurch’s war heroes proper respect.

Roger Harris, 73, has started a campaign for a memorial listing all the servicemen who gave their lives during the 1914-18 conflict to tie-in with its centenary.

He wants it to take the form of a lychgate at the entrance to the village church which will also act as a shelter for people waiting at a bus stop opposite the venue.

Mr Harris, a retired engineer from The Poles, has created a model of his vision and presented it to Upchurch Parish Council.

He said: “Everybody’s placing poppies or erecting memorials, but Upchurch is doing nothing to mark the centenary.

“The idea for a lychgate met with a very good response from the council and church wardens.

“It’s going to be a long drawn-out process because we’re going to need funding and planning permission, but all things being well I’m hoping it might still be built this year.”

Mr Harris said the idea of turning the memorial into a dual-purpose project is because the parish council has already approved plans for a bus shelter outside St Mary’s Church.

He said the lychgate, used to protect mourners from the elements in bygone days, will contain benches and plaques inscribed with a full list of Upchurch’s First World War dead.

Mr Harris said a clock erected at the church after the war features “some soldiers’ names” but a commission three years ago revealed “quite a few” others may have been omitted.

He estimates it will cost between £5,000 and £8,000 to build the memorial, which he insists should be created by local people.

“Rather that, than buying in a mass produced unit from a fat cat company somewhere,” he said.

Mr Harris said the lychgate will serve as a lasting reminder to the many heroes who gave their lives during the so-called Great War; men like his father, George, who he said survived the four-year conflict despite being wounded twice.

He said: “They fought to give us freedom to campaign for things like this.”

Parish councillor, Gerry Lewin, said a lychgate, “could be done.”

“It’s something which needs to be rushed slowly to ensure it’s of the right design and thinking to be appreciated by all.”