WREATHS will be laid at a Hampshire country park tomorrow commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

Schoolchildren have created poems and poppies which will be on display in the chapel of Royal Victoria Country Park.

At 10.30am the chairman of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Colin Davidovitz, will lead a wreath-laying ceremony at the cenotaph in the cemetery of the Netley park.

At 1.30pm, a new 7ft sculpture in the form of a galvanised steel poppy, made by Ashurst artist Colin Philips, will be unveiled in front of the chapel.

One hundred years ago the first shots were fired when Austria-Hungary prepared for its invasion of Serbia, which saw the outbreak of hostilities across Europe.

Royal Victoria Country Park was home to the Royal Victoria Hospital from 1863 to 1966 and injured soldiers were sent there during the four-year-long war.