COMMUNITIES across Wiltshire came together today to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Residents gathered at dozens of town and village war memorials to remember the thousands who gave their lives in two world wars and other armed conflicts.

In Bradford on Avon, more than 400 people packed Holy Trinity Church for the Remembrance Day service, followed by the Act of Remembrance at the town’s war memorial.

Around 184 people from Bradford on Avon lost their lives, symbolised by strings of hand-made paper doves hanging in the historic Shambles as part of the town's Countdown to Peace programme.

The Reverend Canon Joanna Abecassis, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, led the service, focusing on the two minutes' silence and a message for peace.

"Silence is very powerful and inclusive and speaks to us at a very deep level," she said. "It has become a national institution at times of grief and loss."

King George V introduced the two minutes' silence in 1919 to commemorate the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the moment the Armistice Declaration that ended the First World War was signed.

Following the service, the colours of various Bradford on Avon groups, were paraded from the Church to the war memorial in Westbury Gardens.

Led by the town's mayor, Cllr Alex Kay, representatives of up to 35 groups and organisations laid wreaths on the steps of the war memorial.

They included 100-year-old Gladys Welsh, who recently celebrated her birthday, and who laid a wreath on behalf of the Bradford on Avon Women's 100 Group.

Afterwards, the bells of churches in the town rang out in unison with thousands of others across the UK at 12.30pm.

The extraordinary event was led by Big Ben in London, before bell ringers in churches and cathedrals all over the country followed suit, symbolising the end of World War One.

Cllr Kay later unveiled a plaque at an English oak tree planted near the Tithe Barn in the Barton Farm Country Park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1.

She said: "I hope that as this tree grows, we too will flourish and grow in understanding, and the tree will stand to remind us how precious is peace and we will always remember."

The national Remembrance Day service was led by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, who for the second year running, laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on behalf of the Queen, who watched from the balcony of the Foreign & Commonwealth Offices.

She was accompanied by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Disabled former Army veteran, Kelly Ganfield, of Trowbridge, who is registered blind, took part in the ceremony with 99 other members of the Blind Veterans UK organisation, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women.

Mrs Ganfield said: “Not that it is not special in any other year, but marching at the Cenotaph feels more so this year, as it is a reminder of what happened 100 years ago.

"If it weren’t for the sacrifices of those men, the outcome could have been very different. My sacrifice was a lot less than many others."

After the Cenotaph service, 10,000 members of the public filed past the memorial as part of the People's Parade.

Later this evening, a thousand beacons will be lit across the UK to mark the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day.

Faces of the fallen from World War One have also been etched across UK and Irish beaches today as part of film director Danny Boyle's project, 'The Pages of Sea', which he describes as a "nationwide gesture of remembrance."