THE first two-minute silence took place on the anniversary of Armistice Day in 1919 and was conducted by those who didn’t want to forget the millions who were killed, injured and affected by the Great War.

Now it is known as Remembrance Day, where people stop what they are doing at 11am each November 11th and consider the great loss.

The nearest Sunday to Remembrance Day is also a time to pay respects and yesterday was surely one of the most poignant and striking, with this being the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

Across North Yorkshire wreaths were laid, veterans honoured fallen comrades who would never grow old, children were taught the importance of remembering those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so they could live in freedom.

Perhaps nowhere paid the greatest tribute than York Minster, whose bells could be heard all across the city for an hour and a half as the heaviest ten in the south-west tower rang out for exactly 1,914 times.

There may be no one left in York who fought in the Great War, but as yesterday showed, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will continue to remember them.