COMRADES can remember a fallen corporal at a North-East Territorial Army (TA) centre, after friends and family pitched in for a fundraising drive.

Troops based at Bishop Auckland’s TA Centre will dedicate their refurbished bar area to Corporal Lee Brownson on Remembrance Sunday.

The 30-year-old soldier from the market town had his first taste of military life there as a teenage cadet.

A father-of-three, he was serving with 3 Rifles when he was killed by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in January.

It has also been revealed that a building at North Yorkshire’s Catterick Garrison will be named after him.

Cpl Brownson leaves his wife, Leeanne, and his three children, Ginalee, Morgan and Lee-Junior, who arrived shortly after his father died.

Ginalee, 11, was one of the first to help out by teaming up with Megan Yates, 12, whose father Corporal Stewart Yates fought alongside her father, to complete a fun run at the Darlington 10k event this year.

The schoolgirls raised £750 for the bar, where images and military honours of the corporal will go on display.

His wife said the fundraising represents the family giving something back for the support they had from the centre, which is a stone’s throw from their home.

She said: “I know a lot of people have helped us give to the 3 Rifles, but this is personal.

“The help we have had from Captain Pete Hill [from the Bishop Auckland centre] has been immense and this is our way of saying thank-you.”

A Forties fancy dress night and Stars In Their Eyes competition at Tindale Crescent Working Men’s Club also raised more than £1,100 on Saturday for the TA Centre, which is appealing for funds for improvements.

Capt Hill said many 3 Rifles soldiers begin their career at the centre and will enjoy learning about Cpl Brownson’s life.

He said: “I have been helping to look after the whole family since the tragedy and Leeanne and the family have been doing a lot of fundraising for 3 Rifles.

“The centre has become rundown over the years and we are improving it so it is a place cadets can be proud of and will bring their friends and families into.”