WW1 Essex soldier's bugle used in Remembrance Last Post

Tom Stapleton delivered The Last Post on a bugle at Dedham's remembrance service a century after it was last used at the event

A bugle played during World War One by a soldier has been used to sound The Last Post at a Remembrance service.

Pte Henry Howard was in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and played his bugle in the army band, his great grandson said.

The bugle hung proudly on the family's walls for generations but has now been played again to mark the 100th anniversary of the war memorial in Pvt Howard's home village of Dedham, Essex.

Pte Howard played The Last Post when the memorial was unveiled in 1921.

Mark Manning's great grandfather, Pte Henry Howard, holds the bugle in front of a horse-drawn ambulance in France during WW1

His great grandson, Mark Manning, 63, was at the ceremony in Dedham earlier to remember the fallen, including Pte Howard's son-in-law - Mr Manning's grandfather.

Pte Howard survived the war and lived until 1954, but Mr Manning's grandfather, Harry Polson, was killed in World War Two, and his name is inscribed on the Dedham memorial.

The village first unveiled its memorial in 1921 and ex-army bugler Henry Howard stood in Royal Square in Dedham, as people fell silent to listen to the melancholy tones of The Last Post, played on his wartime bugle.

The Last Post was played on the bugle in 1921 in Dedham's Royal Square by Henry Howard, after he left the army

"He'd have had no idea that 20 years or so later, his own son-in-law's name would be on that memorial," said Mr Manning.

"He was involved in holding the Germans back by blowing up bridges on the River Seine to stop them getting to the evacuation in Dunkirk," Mr Manning said.

Mr Manning's grandfather Harry Polson was killed in World War Two and has his name inscribed on Dedham's memorial

One hundred years after his great grandfather stood in front of the village's memorial, Mr Manning and his wife were there, again, to remember the family's history.

His great grandfather Pte Howard had been a farm worker before he joined the army and "at about 40, like many other older men, he was conscripted into the medical corps", Mr Manning said.

"He had a secondary job and he played the bugle - the Reveille, the call to charge - and things like that."

Mr Manning's great grandfather played The Last Post in 1921

The bugle, now looking somewhat battered, has been passed down through the generations.

Tom Stapleton, who has played the trumpet at the Remembrance service for the last seven years, was entrusted to deliver The Last Post on Pte Howard's faithful bugle.

"It felt like things have come full circle," he said.

"I feel very privileged to have been able to do it.

"It was quite overwhelming - I can't quite get my head around it."

Mr Stapleton said the bugle played "beautifully" and it's hoped it will be played at future memorials from now on

The bugle has been part of Mr Manning's life since he was a child and it is now hoped the instrument will be played at future memorials.

"We'd try to blow it when we were kids, but our lungs weren't big enough," he recalled.

"But it was always hung on the wall - my grandmother's, and then my mother's wall - it's an important part of our history."