THE four men, each facing different directions, resting on Lee-Enfield bolt action First World War rifles, looked like statues.

They were positioned near the Durham Light Infantry Boer War Memorial at Durham Cathedral, but it was only when crowds drew near did they realise they were living.

Unlike so many men from the region who made the ultimate sacrifice when the call to arms was made 100 years ago, and in the century of conflicts since.

Despite the biting cold and distraction of photographers, the volunteers from the 68 Society and Display Team held firm.

Dressed in authentic uniforms of the British Tommy, they made real the human sacrifice so many had come to remember.

Inside the impressive Norman cathedral, which was built over 1,000 years ago, veterans, dignitaries and families, young and old, gathered to pay their respects.

Canon Ian Jagger, Archdeacon of Durham, said: “War is a strange paradox. It is both a most terrible and painful thing, and also a place where the human spirit sometimes reaches towards the best that humanity has to offer.

“This world is an amazing and sometimes bewildering place in which evil things and good things are interwoven side by side. In our better moments we fight against evil and try hard to choose what is good, but so often we get caught in no-mans-land between the two.

“Remembrance Sunday brings us face to face with the heaven and the hell which are mixed up in human life.”

The service ended with The Last Post and, with the entire congregation in full voice, two verses of God Save The Queen, before wreaths were laid in the DLI Memorial Garden.

Afterwards many units of Her Majesty's forces gathered on Palace Green including 1st Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the Parachute Regiment, Royal Military Police, Northumbrian University Officer Training Corps, and trainees from the Infantry Training Centre Catterick Garrison, including Rifles Training Company.

Accompanied by rousing military music, they paraded into the Market Place where people who lined the streets applauded in appreciation of the sacrifice, both historic and current.

The parade marched through the city centre just after 11.30 am where the salute was taken by the Lord Lieutenant of Durham Sue Snowdon and the Mayor of Durham City Councillor John Robinson.

Major Andy Sutherland of ‘D’ Rifles Company of 5th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, based in Bishop Auckland, who has served as a reserve infantry officer for 25 years, said: “The service and parade is significant, not just for the context of what happened 100 years ago with the outbreak of the First World War, but also for more recent events where people have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a time for remembering that as well as more historical events.

“One hundred years though is a key anniversary for such a significant event.

“It completely shook up society and changed the way we live. There were great sacrifices made by people from this part of the world who went away to fight in the First World War. I hope people will have found the service thought-provoking.”