YOUNGSTERS were praised today after raising £900 for a tribute to the town's fallen Second World War heroes.A team from the Ipswich Sea Cadets collected the money over a two-day period during the Suffolk Show.

YOUNGSTERS were praised today after raising £900 for a tribute to the town's fallen Second World War heroes.

A team from the Ipswich Sea Cadets collected the money over a two-day period during the Suffolk Show.

It has boosted the World War Two Memorial Fund to a whopping £72,000 and now the 615 Ipswich names have been sent off to be engraved on plaques.

Fundraisers included cadets Kyla Suttenwood, David Webb, David Steel, Byron Banthorpe, James Richmond, Daniel Heffer and Rebecca Brannum.

Peter Thompson, secretary of Ipswich's Royal British Legion, thanked the youngsters, and said: "It has touched me more than anything, especially when they volunteered for a second day, standing in all that heat.

"To get youths fundraising like this really means something.

"They learn about the war in the curriculum. If we don't talk about it, it will be forgotten about.

"By teaching the children and by getting them involved, they realise the affects of war and they won't want other wars."

He added Ipswich is unique in that it has an Association of War Time Sea Cadets.

"Somewhere in the region of 80 war and pre-war Sea Cadets in Ipswich meet once a year for a dinner," said Mr Thompson.

"These youngsters who collected money at the Suffolk Show, would have been a similar age to these cadets when they went to war."

Suffolk County councillors Janet Sibley, of St Clements Ward, and Sue Thomas, of Chantry Ward, contributed £500 and £200 respectively to the appeal fund on behalf of their wards.