A PLAQUE honouring the East Lancashire Regiment’s seven holders of the Victoria Cross was put up at Blackburn Cathedral - thanks to a former soldier.

Raymond Walsh of Lammack Road, Blackburn, presented the stone plaque to the cathedral in 2005 as a lasting memorial to the men who were awarded the highest British military decoration for bravery in battle.

Mr Walsh, who served in the North West Command for three years from 1945, came up with the idea after his friend and VC holder Captain Marcus Ervine-Andrews died in 1995.

After losing his wife Jean, who had long supported the regiment, he became even more determined to ensure a memorial was created.

It had taken him four-and-a-half years to design and create the plaque, which was officially dedicated by the Dean of Blackburn, the Very Rev Christopher Armstrong, during a commemoration service for the Battle of the Somme.

The plaque carried the names of the seven men who had been awarded the prestigious VC medal from 1845 to 1940.

Underneath the list was an inscription in Latin which read “Spectamur Agendo” - by our deeds we are known.

Mr Walsh said: “There is not another plaque in existence as far as I know that honours the memory of these seven VCs and I thought it would be fitting here because Blackburn is where the East Lancs regiment recruited from.”