The past came to life in Lewisham as part of a WWI re-enactment.

The historical event commemorated the centenary of the 11th Lewisham Battalion, formed after Lord Herbert Kitchener - famous as the face of imperial campaigns - made a request to Alderman Robert Jackson, the then mayor of Lewisham.

He called for volunteers from the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment to form the 11th Battaltion, who then went off to fight in the First World War.

A special ‘Drumhead’ service was held in memory of those who did not return on Friday (August 14).

MORE TOP STORIES People gathered at St Laurence Church, along Bromley Road in Catford, which was followed by the re-enactment procession to St Dunstan’s Jubilee Ground, off Catford Road, where the brave men gathered in 1915.

Peter Zieminski, former Bellingham resident from the organisation They Shall Grow Not Old, spearheaded the idea and worked with the council to bring it to fruition.

Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, attended the event and said: "It is important for us to look back and recognise the burdens our predecessors had to bear and the devastating impact the First World War had on this community."

To mark the centenary of the end of the First World War a special research project for Lewisham residents to preserve artefacts and memories of those who lived through the Great War.

The research project is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.