TRIBUTE TO THE FALLEN

A dramatic cascade of poppies run down the side of Selby Abbey. Pictured is verger Andrew Twineham as the abbey – and the country – build up to mark the centenary of the armistice. The 100th day of remembrance will be held next Sunday.

IT STANDS 20ft tall, its wooden frame a dominating presence at the eastern end of the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral.

The war horse, its head facing visitors and bowed in respect, was created by local students to mark the centenary of the armistice.

Yesterday, after a solemn service of dedication, Colour Sgt Paul Harris, a reservist with the Prince of Wales’s Royal Regiment, took the salute.

The sculpture commemorates an era in which horses were still used to take ammunition and supplies to the front. But it was a period of intense transition, in which the animals were exposed to modern machine gun warfare. Some 8m horses and countless mules and donkeys died during the four years.

As the world moves towards the landmark day of remembrance next Sunday, the service at Canterbury was one of a series of events to mark the end of the conflict in 1918.

Inside the Morning Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral, Lt General Sir Andrew Gregory, master gunner of St James’s Park, read a section from the Royal Artillery’s armistice Roll of Honour, containing the names of their fallen World War One comrades.

At Elvington Airfield near York, where the Yorkshire Air Museum is now based, a stream of poppies poured from the cockpit of a Halifax Bomber.

And at the Lady Haig Poppy Factory in Edinburgh, two Chelsea pensioners, John Hellewell and Barrie Davey, were invited to see the final preparations for ceremonies at the Cenotaph and at memorials in every city, town and village.

Meanwhile, the Turner prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger, inspired by the fabled Christmas truce in the trenches in 1914, began the distribution of 2,000 globe-like artworks to grassroots football teams across the country, with the message: “Please do kick it”. He said of the artwork, titled

One World: “I wanted to make something which was hopeful.

“It’s time to stop fighting and start playing – play the beautiful game.”

I wanted to make something which was hopeful Turner prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger.

PICTURES: GARETH FULLER/ANDREW MATTHEWS/JANE BARLOW/PA WIRE. REMEMBER THEM:Top, Colour Sgt Paul Harris of the 3pwr reservists salutes beneath the wooden sculpture of a First World War horse in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral; above, from left, Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory, Master Gunner of St James’s Park, reads a section from the Royal Artillery’s Armistice Roll of Honour, in the Morning Chapel inside Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire; Chelsea Pensioners John Hellewell, right, and Barrie Davey look around the workshop at the Lady Haig Poppy Factory in Edinburgh.