TWO junior school choirs will be marking the centenary of the First World War Christmas truce as part of a festive event in Basingstoke’s Top of The Town next month.

The Basingstoke Area Junior Choir and the Four Lanes Community Junior Choir will be performing Silent Night in English and German as part of the programme of entertainment at the event on Friday, December 5.

Schoolchildren will be encouraging those coming to the event to join them in marking the historic Christmas day 1914 truce in the trenches, with the words to the bilingual carol printed in the event programme.

Hosted by The Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Councillor Roger Gardiner, the event, which runs from 5pm-8pm, will offer late-night shopping, a Santa’s grotto, real reindeer, children’s workshops as well as a Christmas trail.

Other entertainment in Market Place will include performances from the Linden School of Dance, the Salvation Army Band and Basingstoke Rock Choir. Little ones can also enjoy a preview of Father Christmas’s List by Scratch Built Productions ahead of their run at Proteus Creation Space.

The Christmas event, organised and funded by Destination Basingstoke and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council as part of the Town Centre Programme, will support Small Business Saturday UK on December 6 which aims to boost trade for Top of The Town businesses.

Cllr Gardiner said: “We have been marking the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War with a range of different events, remembering how it impacted in our borough.

“It seems very poignant that the younger members of our community should commemorate the Christmas truce by singing both versions of the carol which were heard in the trenches all those years ago.

“I hope lots of people will come along and take the chance to sing, reflect and remember.”