Video and pictures: Shropshire honours the fallen on Battle of the Somme 100th anniversary

Elsewhere in Shropshire, 15 lime trees were today being planted in Chetwynd to remember soldiers from the area who died during the Great War.

Held at the war memorial at old St Michael's Church, in Ditherington the Shrewsbury service was organised by local historian Ken Bishop, a specialist on World War 1.

It was just one of many held across the UK and northern France to mark the centenary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.

At 7.15am, a crowd 'mustered' to recreate the time 100 years ago that the men, from battalions all over the country including hundreds from Shropshire, prepared to go 'over the top' and leave the trenches.

At 7.30am, the start of the service was marked with a number of whistle blasts which signified the start of the offensive.

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Ken said: "The Battle of the Somme the greatest tragedy the British Army suffered. They have never had 60,000 casualties in one day before or since. The service, which we held at old St Michael's Church cut across the hour which is when the boys prepared to leave the trenches. The blasts on the whistles indicated the time the boys left the trenches.

"If we think about it, the boys in 1914 joined the volunteer Army is what this is all about. They joined the Army out of duty. Now it is our duty to remember those men who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we are where we are today. It is about their sacrifice for us.

"If they had failed, the world today might have been different. It was a wonderful turnout bearing in mind the time of the service. We held it 100 years ago to the minute to when the boys went over the top. 20,000 men died that day and there were 40,000 casualties. But what people don't realise is that the majority of those deaths and casualties happened in the first few hours. It was the worst day in British military history. Everybody remembers the first day of the battle but many don't realise it went on for four-and-a-half months."

Amongst those present were representatives of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the Royal British Legion and the King's Shropshire Light Infantry as well as Colonel Edmund Thewles, the vice Lord Lieutenant, and Shrewsbury's mayor Ioan Jones.

The service was led by Rev Mark Chadwick, vicar of St Chad's and former Army chaplain Phillip Niblock.

A large-scale commemorative service took place at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. A traditional Remembrance Service was held in the Arboretum grounds and was followed by a live-linked televised showing of the international Service of Remembrance, hosted by the French and UK governments, at the Thiepval Monument in northern France.

In partnership with The Royal British Legion, the National Memorial Arboretum was also commemorating the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme which was one of the biggest battles of World War 1. The Battle of the Somme resulted in 419,654 Commonwealth casualties of which 95,675 lost their lives or were reported as missing.

Considered the bloodiest battle in British History, it lasted 141 days before coming to a halt on November 18 1916.