ALTON and the surrounding area is set for a weekend of remembrance as communities join national tributes to mark 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War.

On Saturday, in Holybourne village, an air-raid siren will herald the start of a parade from Andrews Endowed School to the London Road war memorial for a service of remembrance.

In Bishop’s Sutton, near Ropley, residents an avenue of trees will be planted to commemorate the 14 young men from the village who lost their lives in the Great War.

A 15th tree will be planted on Tuesday in memory of Anthony (Tony) Sheppard, who was killed serving in the Korean War, and whose body was never found.

In Alton, while there will be free parking, the High Street, Normandy Street and Market Street will be closed to traffic from 10.30am-11.45am on Sunday morning for a parade from the Market Square to the Cairn War Memorial on Crown Hill, where crowds are expected to gather for a special act of remembrance to honour the fallen.

There will be a two-minute silence at 11am, followed by the release of 12 white doves in a symbolic act of peace across the world.

Alton’s tribute will continue at 6pm with a service in St Lawrence Church as part of ‘Battle’s Over’ – a nationwide tribute marking 100 years since the end of the Great War.

For those who prefer a secular alternative, Alton Town Council is inviting people to St Lawrence Primary School Hall to listen to poetry recitals and extracts from ‘Here’s to the Men of Alton’ by Tony Cross and ‘Alton from 1914-1920 – Life in the Alton area during and after World War One’ by Jane Hurst and the Alton University of the Third Age (U3A) Local History Project Group.

With the church service and readings concluding at 6.30pm, people are expected to gather in the churchyard where the Reverend Andrew Micklefield will read out the names of all 224 residents who fell in battle during the First World War.

In Medstead, there will be a Commemoration of Peace at 9.30am on Sunday in the village hall, with original music, film and readings by two Shakespearean and television actors followed by a walk to the war memorial beside the church for the laying of wreaths and the two-minute silence.

In Four Marks, uniformed organisations will parade from the Church of the Good Shepherd at 10.40am to the war memorial on Lymington Bottom Green.

There will be similar acts of remembrance at war memorials in the surrounding villages, while All Saints’ Churchyard at Farringdon will provide the venue at 5pm for a ‘Beacon of Light’, which will be lit close to a Commonwealth war grave for a 16-year-old boy – as part of the ‘Battle’s Over’ commemoration to mark the end of the First World War a century ago.