A HUGE white poppy is to be carved into a hillside near Fovant to mark the centenary of the First World War.

The design will sit alongside the eight other military badges cut into the chalk at Fovant Down.

The Fovant Badges Society (FBS) hopes to broaden the appeal of the memorial to a wider and younger audience, securing their long-term future.

Chairman Brigadier Mark Elcomb said: “The proposed new badge is central to the overall project and we believe it will contribute to the long term survival of these nationally important memorials.”

He added that the new badge would be “a living link” to take the badges’ story into the 21st century.

Five of the surviving eight badges on Fovant Down date from 1916 and were built by soldiers stationed in the village.

The design will be a poppy measuring 25m in diameter, with “1916” and “2016”

carved around it.

As far as possible, the new badge will use construction techniques that would have been familiar to the soldiers stationed in the area during the First World War.

English Heritage has granted scheduled monument consent for the Centenary Badge, a “very significant milestone in the project”.

“It is an image that we can all relate to and we are sure that those soldiers stationed at Fovant 100 years ago would have understood and applauded our desire to follow their example and build a chalk “badge” on Fovant Down,” said an FBS spokesman.

“We now move to the next stage in this project and will start our fundraising efforts.

“Whilst we would point out that we have a long-term and close working relationship with the Royal British Legion, our Centenary Poppy Badge represents the poppy flower that grows so profusely in the fields of Flanders and in many parts of Wiltshire and not TRBL poppy appeal insignia.”

Current maintenance of the badges costs about £30,000 per year.

Construction will be filmed, with extracts being posted online.