A HOST of events and activities will be taking place across Darlington to mark 100 years since the end of the First World War.

The Mayor of Darlington Cllr Veronica Copeland will represent the borough at the annual service at Holy Trinity Church, in Woodland Road, on Remembrance Sunday, which this year falls on November 11.

The church service starts at 10am prompt and will be followed by a parade, which will form up alongside the church grounds in Vane Terrace.

The parade will then set off at 10.45am and make its way to the Cenotaph in the grounds of Darlington Memorial Hospital.

A service will be held at the Cenotaph, starting at 10.55am, where wreaths will be laid and the Mayor and the Commanding Officer of the Royal Signals Squadron, Major Neil Coatsworth, will take the salute as the band, military and other organisations march past.

Later in the day, the Mayor will attend the Royal British Legion Wreath Laying Ceremony in West Cemetery, at 2.30pm, and will be at Bondgate Methodist Church for a First World War Commemoration Concert, from 7pm.

During the week of November 5 to 9, the Mayor will visit several schools with a representative of the Royal British Legion to talk about the annual Poppy Appeal.

The Mayor will also visit the Neasham Remembers Exhibition and Talk on November 8 and will be at Age UK Darlington’s Bradbury House on November 9 from 11.30am to see the First World War Remembrance Mural that is being painted on the wall of the café.

The town clock and Darlington Hippodrome will also be lit up in poppy red on November 10 and 11.

Meanwhile, residents have paid a special tribute to the ‘Haughton Boys’ with a union jack floral tribute, at the Haughton-le-Skerne War Memorial, which honours the men from Haughton, Barmpton and Great Burdon who lost their lives.

First planted in the summer, the flowerbeds are currently being re-planted for Remembrance Sunday. Volunteers have restored the poppy motifs surrounding the memorial and 32 small wooden crosses – one for each man - will be placed below the floral union jack.

Cllr Copleand said: “It is a great honour for me to lead Darlington’s tribute to those who served and those who lost their lives in the two World Wars and in more recent conflicts.

"It is particularly poignant this year as we commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War and remember the sacrifices made by those who so bravely went to war in defence of our freedoms.”