Volunteers from a community group have joined forces to pay tribute to the local servicemen and women who fought in the World Wars.

The Kew Societies gardening team have given the area’s war memorial a makeover as a tribute following on from remembrance services after the anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Nora Dennehy, a Kew Society member said: “We were inspired by all the recent celebrations of our armed forces and thought it would be a fitting tribute to honour the servicemen from Kew Gardens who fought in both world wars.

“We [the Kew Society] decided to speak to the council to get permission to tidy it up. When the flowers blossom, it will be a contemplative space – and, we hope people will visit the memorial a bit more or stop as they walk past and remember that it is there.”

In conjunction with Richmond council and Continental Landscapes – the society created a wildflower border with English wildflowers, which also includes the honorary red poppy.

Historian Simon Fowler, who lives in the area, said: “I’d guess very roughly that 1,000 servicemen from Kew and around 20,000 from Richmond upon Thames fought in the First World War.

“The botanic Gardens might have had 200 of its workers in uniform. And you can assume that roughly 10 per cent were killed in action and another half wounded in some way, of which 10 per cent were life changing wounds."

For more information please visit: http://www.kewsociety.org/