STANDARD bearers and wreath layers from Royal British Legion branches across Cumbria joined a moving occasion to mark the last 100 days of World War One.

Thirteen branches were represented on the battlefield tour of the Somme and Ypres, in Belgium, recreating the 1928 pilgrimage of war widows and veterans, before marching to the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres for the One Hundred Days ceremony.

Branches including Kendal, Sedbergh, Tebay, Windermere, Grange-over-Sands and Ulverston paraded their branch standards and poppy wreaths, joining more than 2,200 people from other branches to pay tribute to the fallen.

Judith Reay, the Royal British Legion's community fundraiser for Cumbria, said that during the battlefields tour the Ulverston standard was raised at memorials at Thiepval and Delville Wood, and the Last Post was played by the Kendal branch bugler, Andy Edgar. She described it as a " very fitting and poignant tribute to the fallen of Cumberland and Westmorland".

The One Hundred Days ceremony and parade was watched by thousands of spectators on large screens in Ypres' Market Square. More than 1,100 standard bearers and 1,100 wreath layers paraded through the streets to the Menin Gate, a memorial to British and Commonwealth soldiers whose graves are unknown.

Representing Sedbergh were Sandra Gold-Wood and Keith Wood, of Sedbergh. Sandra said it was a "privilege" to place a wreath in memory of Sedbergh's fallen.

Richard Glenister, treasurer of Windermere's RBL branch, was also a wreath layer. The Royal Navy lieutenant commander described the whole event as "most humbling and emotionally draining" and told the Gazette: "The emotional impact of over 1,100 standard bearers accompanied by the same number of wreath bearers is indescribable." Windermere's standard bearer was Edgar Holme.

Petals fell as the Last Post was played, followed by two minutes' silence and the laying of poppy wreaths.

An afternoon of exhibitions and musical performances, included the Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines Scotland, the Central Band of The Royal British Legion and the London Welsh Male Voice Choir.