CHILDREN from Liphook Junior School were celebrating Canada Day and the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I together with a host of dignitaries, which included Lieutenant Colonel Tressa Home, representing the Canadian High Commission, the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Nigel Atkinson, as well as members of the local branch of the Royal British Legion.

As in previous years, pupils each adopted the grave of a Canadian soldier and planted a decorated maple leaf by the headstone during the ceremony at the War Memorial.

They had been researching the name on the gravestone as part of their studies on local history and Commonwealth War Graves and each child had written a personal poem dedicated to the fallen soldier.

After official ceremonies were completed, guests were invited to join commemmorations at the junior school, where children re-inacted a moving snap-shop of the First World War through the experiences of a young Canadian soldier, Archie Ford, who is buried at Bramshott.

He volunteered to join the army, aged 19, in May 1918, serving as a gunner and died in October of the same year, after fighting on the battlefields of Flanders.

The play, which included popular songs from both wars, moved many of the guests, including Lt Col Tressa Home to tears and the children were invited to perform it in front of the High Commissioner and his staff at the Canadian Embassy this week.