TOWNS and villages across Teignbridge held special services, wreath laying, presentations, exhibitions and vigils at the weekend and on Monday to commemorate the centenary of the first world war.

Britain declared war on Germany on the evening of August 4, 1914. It was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria during a visit to Sarajevo at the end of June 1914, and the German invasion of Belgium a month later.

What became known as The Great War ran from August 4, 1914, until November 11, 1918, and cost millions of soldiers' lives.