Doorstep vigil backed by various peninsula Armistice tributes

While millions of us will pay our tributes to the fallen this morning at 11.00, various other marks of respect have been created throughout the Shotley peninsula.

St Mary's Church at Holbrook has a new Tommy standing guard, students at the Royal Hospital School have created a special art installation along its main avenue, wreaths have been laid at various churches, and one village has placed a subtle but meaningful poppy in its graveyard.

The Tommy, which has been cleverly designed to blend in with the hedge and can be hard to spot from a distance, was made by Rusty Creations UK from Sudbury. He was made from reclaimed metals and is a sustainable option for future years.

The Tommy was paid for by various fundraising efforts, including Samantha Lanier donating the profits of he book all made from reclaimed metals and is a sustainable option for future years.

Also in Holbrook, Year 10 students at RHS put together a striking art installation for Remembrance Day entitled 'Shrouded'.

Emulating the artist Christo, the school's art department shrouded the school's avenue of trees, and the balconies and balustrade of the impressive buildings.

The dramatic installation will be the backdrop for the school's Remembrance parade, or divisions as it's known at the school. This involves all 750 pupils marching in remembrance of those whose lives were lost.

The event will take place in a Covid safe way, seeing pupils socially distanced and marching in year group bubbles.

Harriet Barber, the school's head of art, was delighted with the effect of the installation and said: "We were particularly ambitious this year with the scale of the tribute we wanted to create.

"Over a kilometer of fabric, kindly donated by DTE Scaffolding ltd, and two kilometers of red cord have been used to bring the concept to life. Our year 10 artists have worked really hard as part of their GCSE 'wrapped' project on creating this fabulous installation"

Meanwhile, lay preacher Andrew Coulson led a wreath-laying ceremony at St Mary's Church, Shotley, and even though the numbers were hugely reduced, more than a 2,000 people watched an impromptu Facebook Live showing.

Wreaths from various Royal Navy organisations, the Merchant Navy, the Royal British Legion and councils, were laid along with some from abroad. Many were laid ahead of the ceremony to keep numbers down.

At Erwarton, a simple hand crotched poppy was placed on a memorial with a number of small wooden crosses at its base, marked the villagers' sign of respect.

See the wreath-laying ceremony at the Commonwealth War Graves at Shotley on Facebook Live here...

To see more pictures scroll right on top image.