Villages set to mark 100 years s

LEEK residents along with town crier Bill Lomas are playing their part in Battle’s Over, an international commemoration marking 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War.

Organised by Pageant master Bruno Peek LVO OBE OPR, Battle’s Over takes place on Sunday, November 11 with events throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and at scores of locations overseas, including New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, Bermuda, France, Belgium, Canada, the United States and Germany.

The day begins at 6am with more than 1,000 lone pipers playing The Battle’s O’er, a traditional Scottish air played after a battle, outside Cathedrals and other individual locations throughout the country and overseas, following a specially written tribute which will be read out.

At 6.55pm buglers will sound the Last Post at more than 1,000 locations, where at 7pm WW1 Beacons of Light will be lit in a tribute signifying the light of peace that emerged from the darkness of four years of war.

Then at 7.05pm over 1,000 churches and Cathedrals will ring their bells as part of Ringing Out for Peace organised in association with the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, which represents 65 societies of ringers from the British Isles and overseas. Also at 7.05pm, more than 140 town criers will perform a specially written Cry for Peace Around the World, the first of them in New Zealand and then across the globe through the various time zones.

In Leek the church bells of St Edward’s and All Saints church will ring out at the appropriate time. Leek Town Crier Bill Lomas will also give a Cry for Peace Around the World outside the Nicholson War Memorial. Mr Lomas will also read out a poem he has written for the occasion.

WISE Owls at a rural school have created a poppy tree.Pupils in theWise Owls class at Blackshaw Moor C of E First School have designed the poppy tree in preparation for learning about the centenary of the end of WWI next half term.The children have collected and painted plastic bottle tops to create the poppies.Class teacher Claire Worrall said that parents and visitors to the school had commented on how lovely the poppy tree looked.Pictured are pupils around the poppy tree.