THE centenary of World War I has been marked by a Basingstoke school with a series of commemorative events.

Aldworth School hosted the week of WWI sessions, which were open to the community, to encourage debate about the war, to remember what happened, and to discuss lessons learned from history.

Ian Williams, of Basingstoke Heritage Society, spoke about how Basingstoke was affected while Richard Harris, a lecturer at the University of Reading, visited to give a talk titled The experience of war: examining unusual and unique stories from WWI.

He spoke about the stereotypes often held about the experience of the First World War.

Students from Queen Mary’s College presented their findings of a two-week project on war poetry.

The first year A-Level drama students, from the college in Cliddesden Road, spent a fortnight working to research, devise and perform a short extract using a variety of war poems as stimulus.

Weaponry and equipment from WWI was viewed by visitors at another session where Chris Copson, curator of The Keep Military Museum, in Dorchester, presented an interactive evening.

Mr Copson, who has served in the army, also spoke about the way it adapted to trench warfare.

The week culminated with a workshop led by history teacher Kimberley Allen leading a discussion reflecting on the importance of remembering.