WORK will being this week on an exhibition that is expected to bring thousands of visitors to Hereford every day.

Thousands of ceramic poppies will be installed outside the Cathedral to form a Weeping Window sculpture in commemoration of those who helped the First World War effort.

The artists behind the exhibition are the same ones who laid 888,246 poppies at the Tower of London in 2014.

Huge crowds were drawn to the artwork in the capital and organisers are hoping Hereford's tribute will become a temporary landmark of its own.

At a cost of £120,000, some 5,500 poppies are due to be installed by the Cathedral as part of a 25-metre high poppy sculpture.

Organisers expect to attract 2,000 visitors every day while the installation is in place between March 14 and April 29.

The First World War centenary arts initiative 14-18 Now is on a UK tour and Hereford was one of the few cities to be chosen in recognition of its contribution to the war effort.

This includes the brave young men recruited into the Herefordshire Light Infantry – among them Allan Leonard Lewis who was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Canary Girls who filled munition shells at the Rotherwas Munitions Factory, and the farmers who provided food for the country.

The Dean of Hereford, The Very Revd Michael Tavinor, said: "It is a great privilege for us to host this very special sculpture, which will mean such a lot to so many people.

"This is a remarkable accolade for the cathedral and for the county, building on our already proud military history and current links with the armed forces.

"We look forward to providing through Weeping Window an additional focus for prayer and reflection as we near the end of the commemorations of the World War One Centenary."

Herefordshire Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Councillor David Harlow, hopes that the installation will act as a huge boost to the county's tourism industry.

Work on the installation will commence on Sunday with the installation of scaffolding and necessary equipment. The poppies themselves will arrive on March 7.

The cost of bringing Poppies: Weeping Window to Herefordshire has been funded through generous contributions from Hereford Cathedral, Herefordshire Council, Hereford City Council, local town councils, trusts and foundations, the National Lottery, local businesses and individual benefactors.