"We came together to build a Sheffield community memorial in time for Remembrance Day"

41-year-old father-of-four Rick Jones, from Lowedges, served in the army for six years and knows a number of veterans who live in the area.

He told The Star: “A couple of my good friends live over in Killamarsh and they have a massive memorial there and I said ‘Why don’t we have one in Lowedges?’. When I joined the army, there was loads of lads in the regiment from here.”

Rick, a business owner and the chairman of 7Hills Junior Football Club, said the estate doesn’t have a particularly great image, which he does not think is fully deserved and he wanted to showcase that fact with a Remembrance memorial.

“I put it on Facebook and the Lowedges Together group and I was inundated with messages,” he said.

Soon, Rick and a team of locals including Ricky Kurpanik, Paul Boot, Jonny Donnelly and Sheffield fabrication’s Tom Turner, were putting together the memorial on Lowedges Road.

The now finished memorial will be the site of a parade on Remembrance Day on Sunday, November 11.

Rick said: “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind but I’m glad we’ve done it. It means everything... It isn’t just the World Wars, there’s the Falklands, Iraq, all of them.

“I think keeping the children educated is important as well. It is an education thing as much as a Remembrance thing.”

The memorial has brought the Lowedges community together as the local library will be providing hot drinks and more.

Rick said: “At 10.50am we will start the service. We will do the last post and there will be a little speech from myself.”

Rick even said the memorial has captured the heart of local resident, Tony Foulds, who found fame when former BBC Breakfast Presenter Dan Walker shared his story about the Mi Amigo memorial in Endcliffe Park and how Tony has tended to it for decades.

“He has been down to it every day,” Rick said. “He donated to the Royal British Legion and laid a wreath by it.”

It looks set to be a popular local event on November 11, providing a more accessible service for older veterans than the larger one in Sheffield city centre.

“All I want now is for people to come and lay a poppy in the garden area,” Rick said. “It showcases the spirit of Lowedges.”