SILENCE fell in Baughurst earlier today precisely 100 years after the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War.

Hundreds of people of all ages gathered at the War Memorial to pay their respects to the fallen and take part in a Remembrance Service.

The service followed on from a parade from Heath End Memorial Hall featuring veterans, current members of the forces and services groups such as Scouts, Girl Guides and Air Cadets.

Among those in the parade were father and son Chris and Damen Evans, the former who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and the latter serving currently as a lance corporal in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (REME).

Chris Evans said: “My great grandfather was killed in World War One and that had a huge impact on my family. When he died, there was no breadwinner so that impacted upon where we come from today.”

L/Cpl Evans added: “Today, I think about conflicts past and present and those I have lost on tour in Afghanistan. You think about them every day of course but today is about appreciating them and their families.”

Handmade poppies adorned trees, fences and signs around the war memorial, as there were along lampposts along the parade route.

At the war memorial for the service was Phil Zaman, a REME veteran who served from 1989 to 2011 as a mechanic, going on tours to Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.

Speaking about the meaning of Armistice Day, he said: “I lost comrades and people I served with and today is about them. This year is important with it being 100 years since the end of the First World War but it is about all of those killed in conflicts since then too.”

Following the service at the war memorial, many retired back to the memorial hall for tea and coffee, in exchange for donations to the Royal British Legion, and take a look at a display remembering the 23 men from Baughurst and Heath End who were killed during the Great War.