The Parish Council, who in 2008 had made a donation towards the memorial, were invited to send a representative to Ypres for the unveiling of the memorial. In the Great War, from 1914 to 1918, 11,409 men of the Sherwood Foresters died on active service, the vast majority of them on the Western Front. Despite the counties of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire having made this great sacrifice the Regiment was unique in having no lasting Memorial anywhere in France or Belgium.

In the aftermath of the war it was decided to commemorate the Fallen by the construction of a lanterne-des-mortes memorial in the shape of a lighthouse shining out over the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border from Crich Hill. At that time it was a wise decision as travel to Europe was expensive and difficult. Times have changed and many thousands of people now visit the battlefield and cemeteries of the Western Front every year.

Parish Councillor Jim Spibey said he would like to attend the unveiling with his daughter, Elaine, and funded the whole trip himself. He and Elaine travelled to Brussels on the Eurostar on Friday, 23rd October, and this was the start of a very moving and memorable trip for both of them. That evening they attended a memorial service and wreath-laying in honour of the Sherwood Foresters at the Menin Gate. The Mercian Band played, and a platoon of Belgian soldiers was in attendance. The Last Post was sounded by the local Fire Brigade, followed by two minutes silence and then the sounding of Reveille.

Councillor Spibey said the unveiling of the memorial on Saturday, 24th October, at the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, which had been chosen because it was the largest War Graves Commission Cemetery in the World, was carried out by the Lord Lieutenants of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and was extremely well attended, many of the visitors having travelled from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Again, Last Post and Reveille were sounded. The inscription on the memorial, which was made by R M H Eaton of Derbyshire, reads: -In memory of over 11,000 all ranks of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) who laid down their lives on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918. This memorial, in Derbyshire Stone, has been made possible by the generosity of the people of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire-. Councillor Spibey told us that the cemetery was very well maintained, and he and Elaine were moved by the inscriptions on the many gravestones.

Councillor Spibey and his daughter also attended the planting at Passchendaele Museum, by the High Sheriffs of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, of an oak sapling from the Sherwood Forest Major Oak . Councillor Spibey said he was grateful for the opportunity he had given by the Western Front Memorial Committee to attend the ceremony.