STUDENTS at Bordon’s Future Skills Centre have teamed up with a town man to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers of the First World War.

To commemorate the centenary of the Great War, Chez Chescoe has created a series of life-sized metal outline figures of soldiers by hand, which have been installed throughout Bordon.

Brickwork apprentices currently studying at the Future Skills Centre, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, have utilised their work experience and enrichment hours to contribute to the project.

The apprentices, currently employed by housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, built and filled the bases that the figures now stand in.

Damian Hinds, MP for East Hampshire and Secretary of State for Education, praised the project on a recent visit to the skills centre as part of Colleges Week.

Mr Hinds said it was a pleasure to be back at the centre, adding that he was “delighted” to see the progress on the commemorative First World War project.

“I look forward to seeing the evocative figure I saw in situ,” he said.

Opened in September 2017, the Future Skills Centre in Bordon is a £3.8m facility that offers a wide range of specialist construction courses, designed to meet the needs of employers in the construction industry.

Surrounded by the regeneration of Whitehill and Bordon, the centre gives students the chance to contribute to “the town that builds itself”.

The centre is operated by Basingstoke College of Technology.

Anthony Bravo, principal of the BCoT, commented: “We are incredibly proud that our students wanted to support the local community in this moving and important project to commemorate the end of the First World War.

"It’s an exciting opportunity for our students to put the skills and knowledge they have learned into practice, and contribute to the continued regeneration of Whitehill and Bordon.”