Sidmouth stood still this morning to mark one hundred years since the Battle of the Somme.

Crowds gathered outside Sidmouth Parish Church to commemorate 100 years since the charge, which lost 19,240 men on its first day – the worst in British military history.

Members of the Royal British Legion’s Sidmouth branch marched to the war memorial before the Reverend Canon Dr Philip Bourne began the special service.

Among the losses on July 1 1916, were two Sidmouth soldiers, privates George Robert Channing and Ernest Charles Stephen Cox.

A full list of fallen soldiers was read out during the service.

Kim Smith, president of the Sidmouth branch, read the exhortation followed by a chorus of ‘we will remember them’ from the congregation.

The Reverend Canon Philip Bourne led the service with readings from members of the RBL.

Councillors Stuart Hughes and Jeff Turner were among those to lay a wreath in remembrance.

GCSE student Ben Johnson paid tribute to the Devonshire Regiment by bringing war time memorabilia he found when visiting the regiment ceremony in Mametz, France.

See next Friday’s paper for the full article.