Hundres of people from across the borough paid their respects on Friday July 1 to those that were killed and injured on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The events started with a civic service of remembrance lead by the borough’s Mayor Councillor Richard Clifton and organised by the Wallington and Carshalton branch of the Royal British Legion. At the service wreaths were laid by a range of representatives from the local authority, the uniformed services and from the community.

During the service the names of the 27 men from Wallington and Carshalton killed on the first day were read and as the ceremon y drew to a close the bells of nearby All Saints Carshalton were rung half muffled in tribute to those and all men who were killed. Bells were also rung in tribute by the other towers of the borough

Attention then turned to the front of St Helier Hospital where as dark descended images of World War One soldiers emerged on the facia of one of the borough’s most iconic buildings.

Hundreds stood and watched as images – which came from Sutton’s Heritage Collection of glass plates taken by photographer David Knights-Whittome; ‘Photographer to the King’ currently being conserved, digitised and catalogued thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund – as they rose out of a field of poppies.