A prayer service was held at Bancroft School in Woodford Green to honour the soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War.

The school’s chaplain, the Rev Ivan Moore, led staff, pupils, former pupils and parents in remembering the war dead to mark the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Great War.

Major Graham Goodey and Major Laurence Baum, two past pupils of the school in Woodford High Road who are serving in the armed forces, read biographies of two ‘Bancroftians’ who had died in the war.

These included the poignant account of Cuthbert Hickman, who sustained wounds while in action and succumbed to influenza just 24 hours after peace was declared.

Bivouacs, a poem by war poet Gilbert Waterhouse who was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, was also read to the crowds.

Members of the Bancroft’s community had hand-produced over two hundred glazed ceramic poppies, most of which were inscribed with the name of an old Bancroftian who gave his life in the service of his country.

The poppies were placed in the grounds of the school around the memorial to the 167 Bancroftians who gave their lives during the 1914-18 conflict.

The flowers were available for purchase after the service, with the cash going towards Combat Stress, a charity which helps former servicemen and women deal with trauma-related mental health problems, and the Royal British Legion.

Members of the school’s combined cadet force and sea scout troop, which both played an important part in Monday morning’s events, were encouraged to form the date 1918 in the quad afterwards – the year the war ended.