A MOVING concert to remember the fallen of the First World War has raised money for two charities.

Longparish Village Choir joined forces with All Hallows’ Church Choir, from Whitchurch, and were accompanied by musicians, as they honoured local heroes of war.

Two concerts were performed in St Nicholas Church, Longparish, and All Hallows’ Church, in Whitchurch, to generate funds for today’s victims of war by raising money for War Child and Alabaré.

As part of the commemoration, residents of both Whitchurch and Longparish researched the names engraved on local war memorials to find out about the people behind them, and put faces to names.

Investigations took some of the researchers to the war graves in France to find the final resting place of these local heroes.

During the concerts, organised by Robin Smallwood, the stories of the veterans were interspersed with the music and poetry readings, which included works by Wilfred Owen and Rudyard Kipling.

Alison Cooper, a member of Longparish Village Choir, said: “We are all very good at the process of remembering, but the organisers wanted us to think about the people we are meant to be thinking about, and unless you know who they are, it’s very difficult.

“There was a story of a 16-year-old boy who was very tall and he was sent a white feather, accusing him of cowardice. He was so stunned, he joined up straight away and then died a few weeks later in battle. It was quite hard to sing when you heard stories like that.”

She added: “You could see the audience looking surprised because addresses were given of some of the men who died, and it was where people are living now.

“There was a moving black and white slide display of the trenches, and happy, smiling men going off to war. There was a real contrast. It was amazing.

“We had a really good turn-out. There were all sorts of people, and some people had come down from London.”