A TEN-YEAR campaign to give Redcar a cenotaph to be proud of will culminate in a poignant lighting-up ceremony.

After years of research, the names of more than 200 residents killed in conflicts from the Second World War to the Falklands are to be remembered at the monument.

From next month, the Coatham Road memorial will be lit from dusk to midnight as part of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's Lighting Our Culture project.

A parade of 20 standard bearers will march to the cenotaph for a service of dedication to mark the switch on.

Redcar Royal British Legion secretary Eric Howden, who has long campaigned for improvements, will share switch-on duties with Mayor Peter Spencer on Wednesday, October 5.

The original monument, built in November 1926, had no names of the fallen.

And while the town's First World War dead were remembered in churches, there was no record of any killed in the 1939-1945 conflict.

When Mr Howden and his wife, June, began researching in 1996, 70 names were available.

By 1998, a total of 212 were inscribed.

More names were added by September 2000 from the second World War, Korea and Falkland's conflicts, while in 2002, merchant seamen were included.

Mr Howden said: "The illumination is really the culmination of ten years effort to make the cenotaph not just a memorial, but a memorial to be proud of."

A short service, conducted by the Reverend Bruce Harrison, vicar of Christ Church, Coatham, will be followed by the singing of the hymn, Jerusalem, a blessing at the cenotaph then the switch on.

The lighting has been funded with £10,025 from the West Redcar Single Regeneration Budget and £2,225 from the borough council.