On November 4, The Leicester Mercury launched its Christmas appeal, to raise £40,000 for a memorial to The Royal Leicestershire Regiment - "The Tigers".

The Memorial, which will be placed at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) at Alrewas, in Staffordshire, will be crowned by a tiger, in reference to the Regiment's famous nickname, on top of a plinth inscribed with the Regiment's Battle Honours, dating back 300 years.

Together with the Regiment, the Mercury, is calling on individuals and businesses to get behind the appeal and raise the target amount before Christmas.

The Memorial is expected to be completed by late summer or early autumn next year, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, in which 8,600 men from the Leicestershire Regiment were killed.

Together with the Regimental Chapel in Leicester Cathedral, the Regimental Museum in Leicester and Royal Tigers’ Wood at Bagworth, the Memorial will form the last visible testimonies to this famous Regiment to serve as reminders to future generations of the glorious part it played in the life of the history of the city, county and nation.

For more information, visit: www.leicestermercury.co.uk