Midlands remembers Armistice Day

Silence fell at the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11 month

Thousands of people in the West Midlands have remembered those who died in wars during a two minute silence to mark Armistice Day.

The silence, at the 11th hour on Friday, represents the moment when all guns stopped at the end of World War I.

Two Dakota planes dropped poppies over a parade in Bedworth, Coventry, said to be one of the largest in the country.

A special service was held at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, in Staffordshire.

Residents in the neighbouring counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire also fell silent.

War veterans and school children from the South Wye area of Hereford attended a remembrance service at one of the city's little-know war memorials.

Children laid crosses around the St Martins Street cenotaph which was built after WWI before the districts of Putson and Hinton existed.

Last Post

Almost every family from the St Martins ward lost a man in the conflict.

The area is also the historical home of the SAS regiment with many troopers buried at a church about a mile away.

In Stoke-on-Trent the Last Post was played by five young trumpet players, while the silence was led by Stafford's Mayor in town's Market Square.

In Wolverhampton the Mayor and Mayoress attended a ceremony at the cenotaph in St Peters Gardens to lay a wreath.

Record poppy sales

On Friday evening there will be a Remembrance Day concert at St Thomas Church in Wednesfield.

At Birmingham Moor Street station railway staff who lost their lives during the two World Wars have been remembered.

In the city centre a wreath laying ceremony took place.

The Warwickshire branch of the Royal British Legion reported record support for this year's poppy appeal.