Shropshire events to remember war poet Wilfred Owen

Poet Wilfred Owen was killed in the final week of World War One

Events are taking place over 100 days to remember World War One poet Wilfred Owen.

More than 150 events, including poetry readings, exhibitions, a concert and talks have been planned in Shropshire.

Shrewsbury Heritage said the project ends on 11 November, the 100th anniversary of the telegram announcing his death arriving in the town.

The Oswestry-born poet is known for poems recording the horrors of trench warfare.

These include Dulce Et Decorum Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth and Strange Meeting.

Owen was killed in the final week of World War One, shot by German machine guns as British forces unsuccessfully tried to bridge a canal in northern France.

Maggie Love, creative director at Shrewsbury Heritage, one of the partners involved in Wilfred Owen 100, said she thought "the stunning rural county" of Shropshire had a "huge influence" on his life.

She said: "We know he had an interest in the flora and fauna of the county.

"Perhaps that gave him some of the inspiration to find the words in which he described the horror of war."

Flowers have been laid at a memorial to Wilfred Owen at Shrewsbury Abbey

Ms Love said the concert at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, would be on 4 November, the 100th anniversary of the death of the poet, who spent his teenage years in the town,

This would include specially composed material set to his poems, she said.

Flowers were laid at Shrewsbury Abbey on Saturday at the memorial to the poet by councillor Peter Nutting, the mayor of Shrewsbury, and Jacky Duminy, the mayor of Ors in France, where Owen is buried.