CREWE residents are invited to join a remembrance service to mark 100 years since the Battle of the Somme.

The town council, supported by the Crewe branch of the Royal British Legion, will host a range of activities from 7.30am on July 1 – 100 years to the minute since the battle began.

Whistles will be sounded on Memorial Square, at Crewe station and at various point across the town, replicating the whistles that were sounded to signal the start of the allied attacks.

At 1.30pm school pupils will place wooden crosses in Memorial Square, each bearing the name of a Crewe man killed in battle. The names will also be read out.

The evening before, June 30, will see a candlelit vigil at 9.30pm with readings, poems and a bugler. Those attending will then be asked for any family stories of relatives involved in the battle.

Almost 20,000 were killed on the first day of the battle, which lasted until November 18 and claimed over one million casualties.

Councillor Pam Minshall, chair of the council’s World War One Working Group, said: “We formally invite all residents to join us to remember the 87 men from Crewe who sadly fell during the Battle of the Somme.”