PLANS to start a new festive tradition for Ledbury, a Boxing Day football match on the Recreation Ground, have fallen by the wayside.

The idea was for the first game to take place this Christmas in particular, on the 100th anniversary of the celebrated soccer matches between German and British troops on "No Man's Land", between the Western Front trenches.

But Ledbury's mayor, Cllr Bob Barnes, said: "It's not going to go forward now, and it should have been this year, the 100th anniversary of the event.

"A chance has been missed; but I take full responsibility as mayor for not getting the organisation sorted: because of significant demands on my time."

Cllr Barnes, who first suggested the game as an idea to the town's War Memorial Working Party, has certainly been very busy over the past month or so, representing the town.

Since Saturday, November 8, when he visited Royal British Legion poppy sellers in the town centre, to show support, and Wednesday, December 10, when he visited the crew of HMS Ledbury in Portsmouth, he has attended 18 engagements, in his official capacity as Ledbury's mayor.

Cllr Barnes hoped that the Boxing Day match, on the Recreation ground, which is a designated war memorial site, could involve local sides such as the Ledbury Swifts and the Army Cadets.

But he acknowledges that he simply ran out of time to get it all sorted.

However, a positive aspect is the fact that the Ledbury Swifts have donated new goalposts for the Recreation Ground.

Lloyd Meredith, president of the Ledbury branch of the Royal British Legion, said he was not disappointed by news of the cancellation.

Mr Meredith said that, with all the events this year marking the centenary outbreak of the First World War, there was a risk of commemoration sometimes "becoming celebration".

He added: "Don't get me wrong, but after those football games, people still died in the trenches.

"I wonder how many of those who played football then actually survived the war?"