WORCESTERSHIRE families are being offered the chance to visit the graves of relatives killed during the two world wars.

Research group Battlefield Memorial Tours is one of the few UK organisations that will not only locate, but also take interested parties to the last resting places of servicemen and women who fell during the conflicts of the last century.

And this year – as interest in the centenary years of the First World War heightens – the group intends to visit a number of key European battlefields.

BMT organiser Brian Long explained: “We strive to deliver exceptional value tours to major European battlefield sites, providing an informative insight into key historical events.

“We are continuing a long tradition of taking friends and relatives to military cemeteries within the areas we visit. Battlefield Memorial Tours builds on more than 40 years of experience, ensuring that today’s visitors can gain an understanding of events that happened during the two world wars. Our tours are hosted in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.”

A 71st anniversary tour of the Normandy beaches is the first trip, taking place between June 4-8. It will be based in Caen and explore the prime sites of the D-Day campaign, this year including the Merville Battery."

A tour of the First World War battlefields of Ypres and the Somme is planned for July 9-13. The coach party will experience the world-famous Last Post service at the Menin Gate, Ypres, visit Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, Thiepval Wood, and also the Ulster Tower and Newfoundland Park.

In September, Battlefield Memorial Tours will take a party to Arnhem, immortalised in the 1970s film A Bridge Too Far. The party will visit key sites along the river Rhine which saw much desperate fighting in 1945 as the war entered its final phase. This trip will take place September 16-21.

The fourth trip of the year will be to attend the annual Armistice service at the Menin Gate, Ypres. This tour will take place November 10-12 and the party will also visit Dunkirk, the scene of the mass evacuation of British troops in 1940 during the Second World War.

For more information, visit www.battlefieldmemorialtours.co.uk or contact Brian Long on 01629 650780.