TOP brass at the Queen's Lancashire Regiment have thanked the people of East Lancashire for their "overwhelming support" in fighting to save its county identity.

The thanks came as the Lancashire Evening Telegraph presented the QLR with more than 2,000 signed coupons from our readers.

Around 2,270 of you - from across East Lancashire and from as far afield as Australia - backed our campaign, launched in August, to preserve the unique Lancashire identity of the QLR, threatened by Ministry of Defence proposals for army reform.

Roger Goodwin, head of media for the QLR, said: "The sheer weight of public opinion from the people of Lancashire, led by newspapers like the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, has greatly contributed to what we hope will be a suitable outcome in ensuring the new regiment will be firmly anchored within the borders of the historic county of Lancashire."

The executive committee of the Army Board met on Monday to decide on proposals put forward by regiments nationwide about how they would be organised under amalgamation plans.

The chances of a single battalion regiment such as the QLR being retained in the review has already been ruled out.

The decisions are expected to be ratified on Monday ahead of an announcement by defence secretary Geoff Hoon.

In the meantime QLR bosses have vowed to present our petition to Army and MoD officials in a bid to prevent them dropping Lancashire from the new regiment's title.

However, the proposed merger between the QLR, the King's Regiment in Manchester and Liverpool and the King's Own Royal Borders, is likely to lead to a new regiment named The Royal Lancashire Regiment.

Mr Goodwin added: "We have been involved in difficult, delicate and tense negotiations with other regiments and that public opinion has been extremely valuable to those negotiations."