SEDGEFIELD’S 42 fallen war heroes were remembered yesterday (April 25) after the first in a series of special commemoration events was held to mark every one of them on the day they lost their lives exactly 100 year ago.

Sedgefield Local History Society, in conjunction with the Sedgefield Village Veterans, organised the event and met to pay tribute to the first soldier to die from their area, Robert Ruddick, underneath the town’s cenotaph.

The blacksmith, who was part of the 1st and 5th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, died on April 25, 1915, at the Battle of Ypres, in France – just 11 days after he arrived to fight.

Norma Neal, of the history society, said Private Ruddick was born in 1891 and joined the territorial force in 1912.

Research also revealed that he married Lilian Hunton, of Stockton, in 1913 and went to war with his younger brother, Christopher Ruddick, and friend Bertie Bateman, of which only his brother returned.

Mrs Neal said: “We are trying to keep the home fires burning for those men, 42 of them, who lost their lives in the Great War.

“There are 42 men on our war memorial, which was quite a high number considering Sedgefield was quite a small place in those days – it’s really important to remember the sacrifice, the valour and the courage that all these men showed and the people who they left behind.”

The mayor of Sedgefield, Mel Carr, and Durham, John Robinson, also attended the service along with the chairman of Sedgefield Town Council, Chris Lines and his son, Charlie, eight, who held a plaque detailing Private Ruddick’s life throughout the two minutes silence.

“The freedoms we enjoy today are built on the sacrifices that were made 100 years ago and since,” Councillor Lines said.

“It’s really important that we continue to remember and commemorate their sacrifices and we must also pay tribute to the history society and the veterans for all their work to make sure that Sedgefield honours the memories of its community that died.”

The next soldiers to be remembered will be cousins, William Anderson on May 7 and Cecil Lowes, on May 25.