Caring schoolchildren, top naval officers and the Prime Minister joined forces on Friday to hear childrens' tributes to the young men who gave their lives a century ago in the last year of the First World War.

The event held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's headquarters at Marlow Road, Maidenhead was organised by Never Such Innocence (NSI), a national charity that involves children aged between nine and 16-years-old in the First World War centenary commemorations.

Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, who is president of NSI and vice-chairman of the War Graves Commission, introduced the programme.

Vice-Admiral Laurence said: "100 years ago hundreds of thousands of soldiers were shivering in the trenches in bitter weather, waiting for the battles to come in 1918.

"It was to be the last year of the war. We know that - but they did not."

Five local schools took part in Friday's event.

St Nicolas Church of England Primary School pupils from Taplow performed their own song How Can We Show Our Gratitude created with singer songwriter Martin Longstaff.

The Salon Orchestra of the Central Band of the Royal Air Force played alongside children from The Piggotts School in Wargrave as they performed their own song to the Dambusters theme.

While pupils from Claires Court School, Cookham Dean Primary School, St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School and the Piggotts School made their own contributions in song and rhyme.

Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Maidenhead constituency embraces the War Graves Commission's home, Air Vice Marshal Mike Wigston, assistant chief of the Air Staff and Lady Lucy French, great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Sir John French and Founder of Never Such Innocence were among the other appreciative audience.

Air Vice Marshal Mike Wigston explained how the British Airforce is also 100 years old this year, having being formed following an air raid in June 1917 that killed 162.

Victoria Wallace – director general of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – told children that the CWGC looked after war graves in 23,000 places involving 1,700,000 people from across the world.

But she also told them about Arthur Fletcher who died in 1918 at the Battle of Zeebrugge and who was the organist at the church in Marlow Road. His grave is in Maidenhead.