A NETLEY church has taken steps to make this year's Remembrance Sunday extra special, as 'poppy crosses' have been erected in a tribute to the memory of the men and women who died in the parish during the two world wars.

St Mary's Churchyard, Hound in Netley have placed 75 poppy crosses along a path at their cemetery, each with the name of an soldier who died in the wars attached.

Parish Councillor for Netley Abbey, Maureen Queen had the idea to create the crosses after seeing it done in New Zealand earlier this year.

Maureen said: "We have a young Kiwi soldier in our cemetery, Thomas Hargreaves, who died when he was 22, and I travelled to New Zealand in April this year to join in their Anzac Day parade and I laid a wreath to commemorate the centenary of his death.

"When I was there, I saw rows and rows of poppy crosses near the main focal point of the parade, and I wanted to recreate that. I'm delighted with the end product - really, really pleased."

Eastleigh Men's Shed created the crosses, before Maureen attached the names and put them in place on Saturday November 2, and she plans to display them every year, a week before Remembrance Sunday.

This Sunday, after the normal service at St Edwards Church at 11am, there will be a smaller service at St Mary's Churchyard to specifically remember those that died in the Parish, while there will also be a reef laid on behalf of the New Zealand Government in the honour of Thomas Hargreaves.