THOSE who fought and fell in a First World War battle 100 years ago will be remembered at a service in their honour.

The doors are open for the people of Worcestershire to gather and commemorate those who lost their lives in the third battle of Ypres, also known as the battle of Passchendaele, on the Western Front in 1917.

The service will take place in St Helen’s Church, Fish Street, Worcester on Saturday, November 4, marking the end of the battle and honouring the Worcestershire men who fought and died during those 100 days.

The event begins at 10am with doors open to the public at 9.30am.

At 10am there will be a short service which will include the Last Post, lowering of standards and a one minute silence.

Following the service the Deputy Lieutenant of Worcestershire, Lord Cobham, will officially open the event with a short speech after which time the public are free to visit the various displays.

These include information on the battle, the Worcestershire Regiment’s involvement and the names of known casualties from the county.

Also attending are the Royal British Legion, SSAFA, Sea Cadets, Worcestershire and Herefordshire Army Cadet Force and the Air Training Corps Cadets.

Sgt Alan Fish, a standard bearer of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regimental Association (Worcester branch), will be there with the regimental association's parade marshal, staff sergeant John Walters.

Mr Walters, aged 70, of St John's, Worcester, is the son of John Richard Walters who also served in the Worcestershire Regiment (4th Battalion) and fought at Passchendaele and Gallipoli where he was wounded.

His father died on January 7, 1979 at the age of 87 but his son who served two tours in Northern Ireland and one in Cyprus continues the family tradition.

Throughout the day, commencing at 11am, there will be three talks relevant to the battle as well as readings by members of all three cadet forces.

Light refreshments will be available in the church. The event is free to attend and closes at 3.30pm with the playing of the Last Post.

Organiser Sandra Taylor said: "Following the horrific losses on the Somme the previous year, a decisive breakthrough was needed to break the stalemate of trench warfare and bring about a speedy end to a war that had resulted in millions killed, missing or wounded on both sides.

"Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, chose the Ypres salient for his next big offensive, his intention being not only to breach the German lines and capture the village of Passchendaele but also to reach the Belgian coast in order to destroy the German submarine bases located there.

"Several days of continuous shelling preceded the main attack, churning up the Flanders mud and warning the Germans that a major attack was imminent.

"On July 31 hundreds of men went over the top. Within days, the weather turned unseasonably wet with weeks of heavy rain, the worst for 40 years. "The badly scarred earth turned into a sea of mud that had to be crossed with duckboards, and shell holes filled with water. Those men and animals that slipped into the mud more often than not drowned."

The battle raged for 100 days, ending on November 10, 1917 when Canadian forces finally captured the village of Passchendaele.

The Allied forces had advanced just five miles at a cost of approximately 250,000 allied casualties (killed, wounded or missing) and around 260,000 German casualties.

Of that number at least 500 men from Worcestershire were killed or missing and many more returned home wounded, either dying at a later date or bearing the scars both mental and physical for the rest of their lives.

For further information or if you are related to or have any information relating to a casualty of the battle please contact Sandra Taylor tommy@rememberthefallen.co.uk