A WASHFORD artist and woodworker has less than six months to complete the epic task of creating individual miniature statues of every one of the 19,240 soldiers killed in the first four hours of the bloodiest day in British military history.
For two years, Rob Heard, 50, has been working “from dawn to dusk” on the largely solitary task of making the 12-inch-high figures.
Poignantly wrapped in hand-stitched shrouds, each one bears the name of a victim of World War One Battle of the Somme which began on July 1, 1916.
By the time it ended, in November 1916, the death toll from all sides had reached more than a million.
All 19,240 Shrouds of the Somme are due to be laid out in Exeter’s Northernhay Gardens on July 1 and the ceremony will be attended by a member of the royal family as part of a lavish military commemoration.