THE 75th anniversary of a German bombing raid on a small market town during the Second World War is set to be remembered in a day of events.

Hundreds of people are expected to mark the milestone in Masham on Saturday to honour the six people, including two couples and two soldiers, who died in the early hours of April 16, 1941, after a Luftwaffe bomber jettisoned two parachute mines, flattening the White Bear Hotel and several nearby houses.

Among those leading the event will be former agriculture minister Lord Jopling, whose home was 150 yards from one of the blasts.

He said: "It was a pretty frightening experience. I was aged ten and in the cellar with my mother while my father was in charge of air raid precautions. The blast broke every window in the house and took slates off the roof.

"A lot of people are astonished that Masham was bombed."

The night of the bombing also saw more than 100 German planes target Newcastle, Sunderland, Sadberge, Billingham, Easington, Middlesbrough, Loftus and Thornaby, in what was believed to be a mine-laying mission.

Local historians have suggested the Heinkel bomber set off from near Calais and had targeted Belfast before engine failure forced the crew to offload the mines in a field near the Leyburn Road, close to the Wensleydale Garage site, and at Cross Hills.

Herbert and Ann Scaife, Douglas and Elsie Watkinson, of Cross Hills and privates Hubert Page and Alfred Sweet, of the 12th company Pioneer Corps, were killed in the blast.

It is thought the Heinkel was on fire as it passed over the town and crashed into a bridge minutes later at Huby, north of York. Its five crew baled out and were taken as prisoners of war.

The explosion damaged buildings across the town and among the few items salvaged from the pub was a glass-encased polar bear, shot in Alaska in 1901 by the 3rd Baron of Masham.

Commemorations will see the market laid out in 1940s style, with cars and military vehicles of the period on display across the Market Place.

Lord Jopling, of Ainderby Quernhow, will unveil a war memorial in the town hall at 11am, featuring ceramic 67 Tower of London poppies, to mark each person from the town and nearby villages who died in the war.

Michael Dunne, of Music in Masham, will stage a Last Night of the Proms-style concert at the town hall at 7.30pm, featuring Dishforth Military Wives Choir and the Sound The Trumpets Brass Quintet from the The Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Funds from the concert will go to the Royal British Legion for its work at Phoenix House Recovery Centre, Catterick.