A POIGNANT ceremony was held to mark the 104th anniversary of the Battle of Gheluvelt yesterday.

The Battle of Gheluvelt played a pivotal role in the early months of World War One, preventing the Germans gaining access to the crucial Channel ports.

Yesterday veterans gathered in Gheluvelt Park at the war memorial for a service to mark 104 years to the day the battle happened. Wreaths were laid before a silence, last post, when the standards were lowered.

At 2pm on October 31, 1914, 357 men from the Worcestershire Regiment began a bayonet charge towards Gheluvelt Chateau, facing almost certain death, before bringing about a remarkable victory.

Wednesday's service followed a large event on Sunday, when the Worcestershire troops were remembered at a service attended by dignitaries including Worcester MP Robin Walker and Mayor Jabba Riaz.

In a speech at the park’s war memorial, Cllr Riaz said these men were the British expeditionary forces’ “last hope and throw of the dice, facing certain doom and impending death.It is testimony that Worcester has never forgotten that sacrifice and that we will never forget that we honour our men and women each year, and remember them how we ought to.”

On the same day, a British artillery gun, using shrapnel rounds left over from the Boer War, unexpectedly blew up a German equivalent which was using high explosives, on its second shot.