PEOPLE turned out in their thousands at special services in towns and villages across East Lancashire to remember the fallen in conflict and mark the 100th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War.

A lone piper played 'The Battle's O'er' in Accrington Town Square at 6am to start the special centenary Remembrance events.

Civic dignitaries joined military families and ordinary citizens in weather-laying ceremonies at war memorials at 11am with the traditional two minutes silence to respect those who lost their lives in two World Wars and other conflicts around the globe since.

In Accrington the newly-redeveloped Town Square, dedicated to its famous Pals battalion decimated in 1916's Battle of the Somme the day before, saw more than 1,000 people gather by noon many having joined a procession from the 11am Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Oak Hill Park.

In Hyndburn special commemoration was given to the legacy of the Accrington Pals with two benches in Church Street near the memorial to the battalion dedicated to their memory with a reading of special play about their heroic sacrifice led by Church-born actress Julie Hesmondhalgh at 2pm in the Accrington Town Hall's ballroom.

Borough Council Leader leader Cllr Miles Parkinson said: "More than 1,000 people came to the ceremonies in Accrington and I believe the turn-out at the same time in Great Harwood was similarly pleasing to mark the end of the First World War. It was by far the biggest I remember.

"Hyndburn's events were very much part of the national remembrance of the Armistice but with a particular local flavour because of the Pals."