First World War Centenary

Tributes will be paid this morning to those killed on the North Yorkshire coastline in the First World War bombardments exactly 100 years ago.

Hundreds of shells rained down on Scarborough before German warships attacked Whitby in 1914. 20 people were killed and hundreds more injured.

Lindy Rowley is from the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre.

Nine days before Christmas in 1914 was the major turning point in the Great War resulting in thousands signing up to fight.

That is because it was the first time the Germans had killed civillians on home soil. The seaside town of Scarborough was one target and 18 people were killed there.

Now a group of volunteers are trying to trace their relatives in time for a special centenary next month. Sarah Clark reports.

Today marks the centenary of the bombardment of Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby.

One hundred years ago today five German battle cruisers struck the North East coast. Many civilians were killed and injured.

People in Hartlepool are marking the centenary this morning.

Troops from Catterick Garrison are due to parade through the City of York this morning (Friday, 15th August) as part of continuing events to mark the centenary of the First World War.

The soldiers are all members of the Royal Dragoon Guards based at Alma Lines, Munster Barracks, which is the only armoured cavalry regiment based in Yorkshire.

More than 150 servicemen and women will take part, before attending a service at York Minster. A flypast is planned by RAF Typhoon fighter jets during a review of the troops at 9:30am.

In the second part of his special reports Kenny Toal travels to the Derbyshire town of Belper where he tries to find surviving relatives of Herbert Butler and reunite them with his war medal.

Kenny Toal sets out to tell the story of a soldier from the Great War.

After sourcing a victory medal on an internet auction site, we try and find out more about the man who once owned it.

Herbert Butler served with the Durham Light Infantry. In the first of two special reports we try and find out more about him and begin a search for surviving relatives to reunite them with the medal.

They leave a lasting impression on anyone who has visited them. The war graves of France and Belgium are an incredible sight.

But the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission isn't limited to just there. It looks after 23,000 locations in 153 different countries.

Kenny Toal was granted special access to the teams whose job it is to maintain the memorials. You can watch his full report here.

Across the region projects have been reflecting the impact the war had on communities.

In the village of West Cornforth, in County Durham, the historical society has been reflecting on the impact the war had there by telling the stories of the men in the local football team.

See Kenny Toal's full report here.

A remembrance service has been held at Ripon Racecourse to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

The service was especially poignant Ripon was one of three racecourses which raced on the day war was declared - and was a base for training pilots.

The day was also the course's annual Children’s Day, allowing younger generations to be educated about the historic event.