CHARITY workers from Oswestry have been invited to join national Armistice commemorations.

Representatives from Qube have been invited to Westminster Abbey by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for the Armistice Centenary Service.

Qube was nominated by the Heritage Lottery Fund for the work carried on the Men on the Gates project which researched the lives of soldiers listed on the Oswestry War Memorial Gates at Cae Glas Park.

Chief executive officer, Laurel Roberts, said; “We are extremely proud to have had such high recognition for the Men on the Gates project. The funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled us to uncover the human stories behind the names engraved on the Memorial.

"Future generations will be able to have an understanding the sacrifices made by local people.”

The service, which is to be broadcast live on BBC1, will commemorate the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiègne, France. This historic event took effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, ending hostilities on the Western Front in the First World War.

The research was carried out by many volunteers from history groups and organisations, including Oswestry Town Museum, the Cambrian Heritage Railway, Oswestry Family History Society and local groups in Llanymynech, Trefonen and Gobowen.

Volunteers found information from the internet, through archive records, from local churches and by speaking directly to relatives.

Project co-ordinator, John Davies said: “It has been fascinating, humbling and a privilege to work on this project.

"We’ve discovered some extraordinary stories about the men and have been able to inform the Commonwealth War Graves Commission about the identities of four men who were not registered.

"The men came from many different walks of life; they were relatives, school chums, neighbours, work colleagues and members of the same church. It has given us a real appreciation of the devastating effect these loses must have had on the town.”

For more information about the project, visit www.menonthegates.org.uk

The service to mark the centenary of the Armistice at Westminster Abbey will be broadcast live on BBC1 at 6pm on Sunday, November 11.