HUNDREDS of people attended a First World War commemorative exhibition in Kidderminster Town Hall last weekend.

The People’s War 1914-1918: Kidderminster Remembers was opened by district councillor Anne Hingley who honoured the 700 local men who died in the bloody conflict and paid tribute to the great contribution the town’s factories and civilians made to the war effort.

Kidderminster Heritage Opportunities Group (HOGs) organised the event using a £3,400 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s First World War: then and now scheme.

David Laverty, event co-ordinator for HOGs, said: “The exhibition represents a tremendous effort on behalf of many individuals and groups. “With a great turnout, the popularity of the event shows the continuing interest in the period and the depth of feeling for the sacrifice and the contribution made by this Great War generation.”

The weekend featured a range of interactive activities including songs, music, drama and film that brought to life the First World War period.

Inside the town hall visitors experienced demonstrations of life in the forces – including the taste of army biscuits – courtesy of the Birmingham PALS re-enactment group and witnessed displays of barbed wire, shell splinters and pieces of equipment recovered from the Somme battlefield.

Family historian Gay Hill taught members of the public to trace their First World War ancestors and films including Weave It To Us by the Wheely Different Theatre Company, which is about women taking over men’s jobs during the conflict, were shown.

In Vicar Street Claire Worboys put local shoppers on the spot with renditions of the war recruitment songs and routines of Vesta Tilley, a music hall star of the era, while “two beautifully moving performances” by the Rose Theatre represented the lives of the ordinary soldier.

Displays from Don Gilbert, Wolverley and Cookley Historical Society, Wyre Forest Historical Research Group, Mercian Volunteers Association and local secondary schools and scout troops were also exhibited.