Armistice Day: 10,000 march past Cenotaph in national thank you to the WWI fallen

Thousands of people marched past the Cenotaph in central London to pay their own respects to the soldiers who fought in the First World War.

For the first time, after the Royal Family and Commonwealth representatives laid their wreaths, 10,000 people were able to walk past the memorial and lay their own tributes, remembering loved ones lost in the war.

The march was described as a "nation's thank you", and thousands of descendants of First World War soldiers were involved, including Jackie Sheridan, whose great-great-uncle Oliver Davies died when he was hit by a stray bullet near Jerusalem. He was just 21.

She said it would be an "emotional" day to see all 10,000 people marching together.

Ms Sheridan wore a Land Army badge which belonged to her grandmother Valda Davies.

Wiping away tears she said: "That was very important to her."

Marion Lewis and her sister Dorothy Heslop marched for their grandfather, Private John Waters, of 23rd Battalion Middlesex Regiment.

A serious head wound at the Somme meant he was missing part of his skull. Like many war veterans, he did not speak about his experiences.

Ms Heslop said: "They did not expect him to survive so they left him outside the medical tent and we think it's the cold that probably saved him."

Thousands who were marching started gathering at the Mall from 9am wearing poppies and holding their wreaths. They watched the main service at the Cenotaph on big screens, before falling silent with them at 11am.

Balls rang out to mark the celebration while the procession started. Those on the march were chosen by ballot.

The Queen and Prince Charles led the service at the Cenotaph, with the Queen watching the morning's proceedings from the balcony of the nearby Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Joining her were the Duchesses of Cornwall, Cambridge, and Sussex, who all watched on as their husband laid wreaths on the monument as part of the ceremony.

Prince Charles laid a wreath on behalf of his mother for the second year in a row, while an equerry laid one for Prince Philip, who did not attend this year, having retired from public service.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier became the first German leader to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph, marking the friendship that now exists between Britain and his nation.

The president was invited to attend by the Queen, on the advice of the government.

Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn also laid wreaths, along with the Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.

Former prime ministers Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Sir John Major were also in attendance.

Although Big Ben has been silent for several months as repair works are undertaken, it rang out at 11am to mark 100 years since the Armistice was signed.

The end of the two-minute silence at 11am was marked with the Last Post, and cannon fire. Big Ben sounded again at 12.30pm, when it joined bells around the country and the world to echo the way the bells rang out when news of the Armistice spread.

The day's events finished with a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.

Around the rest of the country, Britain's beaches were adorned with sand etchings of soldiers who died in the conflict, including poet Wilfred Owen.

The national project called Pages of the Sea was the brainchild of filmmaker Danny Boyle and allowed communities to remember victims who were local to their towns.

In Edinburgh, the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led commemorations, laying a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance outside the city chambers.

Guns fired 11 rounds from the city castle before falling silent.

Ms Sturgeon was joined by the Princess Royal for a service in Glasgow Cathedral.

The names of all the 134,712 Scotsmen who died in the Great War were beamed onto the Scottish Parliament building.

In Enniskillen, Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster and Irish Government minister Heath Humphreys laid wreaths at the cenotaph, where hundreds gathered in the narrow streets to watch.

The town's Remembrance Sunday events are particularly poignant after they were devastated by a Provisional IRA bomb in 1987, killing a total of 12 people.

The day's events began with a bugler playing at Enniskillen Castle at 6am.

Belfast City Hall's cenotaph also hosted a large event, with attendees including Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley and Simon Coveney, Ireland's deputy premier.

On Sunday evening the Queen joined other royals, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the prime minister Theresa May were also among those at the service and both spoke to the congregation.

Some 1,000 buglers sounded the Last Post at First World War beacons of light locations.

More than 1,300 beacons were lit to symbolise an end to darkness of war and a return to the light of peace and 1,000 cathedrals and churches rang their bells together, with town criers joining them in a cry for peace.