Emotional, proud and poignant - those were just some of the words used to describe the disbanding of the Famous 50 exhibition at Memorial Square last weekend.

The event marked the farewell of the 50 figures created to represent the local Coalville soldiers who became the first to land in France at the start of the First World War.

Organised by Deana Wildgoose, of the Coalville CAN community group, a service, with a pipe band, was held at the War Memorial.

Descendants of the 50 and members of the Royal British Legion, marked the occasion in front of the models of those who left for war 107 years ago - some of them never to return.

The figures were arranged in lines of five as they would have been when they set off.

They were then either reclaimed by their makers, but some can now be seen in the Snibstone New Inn across the road from the memorial.

There are still stories to tell from this group of soldiers who are forever written into the town's history.

Chairman of the Whitwick branch of the Royal British Legion, John Cowley, told the story of his uncle who never came home and whose body is still buried in France.

"it's a particularly sad story," he said.

"My uncle Bill was born to my grandparents Joseph Cowley and Eliza Rose.

"They had a first son William, always known as Joe, then had five daughters and another boy, Jack, who is my dad they all attended Hugglescote church.

"William, my grandad, and Joe were members of the Hugglescote and Ellistown silver band.

"My grandad played the big euphonium and Bill played the cornet, right up until the time the First World War started.

"When that started, William was one of the first volunteers of the Famous 50.

"And after a service at Hugglescote Church, and the wonderful march that now commemorates the famous 50, they boarded a train from Coalville, and they went to Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire where they did their initial training, then they sailed over to La Harvre, where they dispersed to various regiments.

"They were the first ones from Coalville to volunteer, which is why they were called the famous 50.

"Bill, being a miner, was seconded to mining duties

"And he spent quite a while tunnelling various locations.

"The final location he was that was that Vimy Ridge. Him and four other British lads, were tunnelling underneath when a German counter attack from the other way broke into the tunnel.

"There was a fire and an explosion, two British lads managed to get out, and two didn't, unfortunately my uncle Bill was one of the two that didn't, and to this day, he still entombed underneath.

"The bodies were never recovered.

"Years later, we visited and I was invited to go on a tunnel tour, it was quite a poignant moment when I went down through the tunnels and a guy explained all about it.

"I was thinking that I could be standing here within a few yards of my uncle's body, and I don't know where he is.

"It was a very emotional moment that was for me. My uncle Bill has never been forgotten as none of the other lads have.

"To this day, we are here to remember what all of those lads did.

"All the families taking part have strong memories of all of those years. In my role as chairman of the British Legion, we thought this will be a fitting way to bring this period of our town's history to an end."

Pauline Pettitt and her son Nick, also attended the ceremony.

They are relatives of Walter Pettitt and Cecil Beadman, two of the 50.

"It's was the final send off, so we thought we'd come down and say goodbye, my great uncle was Walter Pettitt," said Nick.

"I noticed quite a few faces about on the day as descendants of the 50.

"It was quite weird to come up there and see all the cutouts, which have been decorated quite a long time ago by different schools and nurseries.

"But I worked in horse racing for 15 years when I left school. And we walked up today to find Walter Pettitt covered in horseshoes.

"We never knew that, but it seems really weird."

Pauline added: "When we did our family tree, we knew there was a W Petttit, on the War Memorial in Coalville, but the family never spoke about this Walter, until we did the family tree, we didn't realise, we found out about it later.

"I also do a lot for Ibstock Historical Society. And we ended up transcribing a book that we found at Ibstock Brick. It seems Walter was a bit of a lad. It said that he stole a set of keys.

It said that he lived on the Ellistown Road house, which aren't there anymore.

"He did sound of key was a proper little lad, but sadly, he did lose his life."

Llynda Baugh created the website for the Famous 50 and told of her pride in what has been achieved in Coalville to remember the men.

"I helped Deana organise this event, and we've both done projects about the 50. I organised the march and it was Deana who did this project where she got the community to create their own soldiers to represent the 50," said Llynda.

"Last weekend was the end of that work that we've done over the last four years.

"The models were done by schools and groups, individual artists, I also did one, all kinds of people did them.

"They've been in businesses and shops up until last weekend, and the makers can have them back now.

"The ones that are left will go in the Snibstone pub opposite Memorial Square. A lot of veterans tend to go in that pub.

"When the soldiers did the march originally, they lined up in fives which is why they were positioned that way.

"Some of them look like soldiers, but some of them might look like cricketers for instance, because that's what they did before they went to war. All the decorations on them related to that.

"It's amazing and we're very proud of it.

"As a whole, to remember the famous 50, it's such a lovely thing. They were the first 50 civilian volunteers to land in France, it's not just about Coalville, in the whole country, these were the first 50 to go.

"They were known as the first 50, but when they got there, one of the sergeants said: 'You're famous you are. You're the first ones to land.'

"It's really important for people to know that."