THE ways South Cumbrians have remembered the sacrifices made in times of war are featured in these pictures from The Mail's archive showing November parades and services in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Benevolent work continues all year and covers anything from help with residential care and stairlifts to emergency grants.

The Armistice which brought the fighting to an end on the Western Front in France and Belgium was traditionally marked by a two-minute silence at the 11th hour on November 11 but the hectic pace of the modern age brought a switch to the nearest Sunday.

Remembrance Sunday with its special services and Royal British Legion parades to war memorials has come to stand for the fallen of the two world wars and of smaller scale conflicts around the world.

Its significance for the nation appears as strong today as ever — particularly with all the community events which have been organised to mark 100 years since that first Armistice Day.

War correspondent Percival Phillips watched how Barrow soldiers celebrated that first day on November 11 in 1918 in a small Belgian town near Mons — where the fighting had started four years earlier.

He wrote: "Just at 11am I came into the little town of Leuze, which had been one of the headquarters nearest the uncertain front.

"In the market place were the British troopers on their horses, drawn up in a hollow square — 3rd Dragoons, Royal Dragoons and 10th Hussars of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, all in fighting kit.

"In the centre was the 1/4th Battalion of the King's Own, Barrow men of the 51st Division, thrown across the square, their colonel at the head and the old mayor of Leuze beside him.

"From all the windows of all the houses round about, and even from the roofs, the inhabitants looked down on the troops and heard the words of the colonel as he read from a sheet of paper the order that ended hostilities.

"A trumpeter sounded the Stand Fast.

"In the narrow high street at one end of the little square were other troops moving slowly forward.

"As the bugle rose clear and crisp above the rumble of the gun carriages these men turned with smiles of wonder and delight and shouted to each other 'The war's over'.

"The band of the Barrow men played God Save the King.

"None heard it without a quiver of emotion."

The report noted: "The mud-stained troops paused in the crowded street, the hum of traffic was stilled.

"A rippling cheer was drowned in the first notes of the Belgian hymn, the Marseillaise succeeded it, and the army of each ally was thus saluted in turn.

"I do not think that anyone heard the few choked words of the old mayor when he tried to voice the thanks of Belgium for this day of happiness.

"The Army carried on briskly, as though a little ashamed of the emotion which has seized us all for one unforgettable moment.

"People shook hands in an embarrassed way and said to each other: 'Well it's finished'."