THIS week for Looking Back we will be reflecting on the people who did their bit during the First World War.

This Sunday (November, 11) is not only remembrance day, but 100 years since the end of the First World War.

The war, known as the 'War to End All Wars', started on July, 28 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary, a month earlier at the hands of Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist.

On August, 2 1914 Germany signed a secret treaty with the Ottoman Empire and the following day declared war on France.

On August, 4 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, and Britain declared war on Germany.

Dorset played its part in the war effort, not only through providing troops, but providing areas for training recruits, such as in Charmouth, as well as supporting industry, and caring for the wounded soldiers in hospitals.

In Bridport, industries such as the net industry were extremely important, with many of the women working in the factories as the men were on the front line.

Fifty thousand hay nets a week were leaving Bridport in 1916, along with hemp lanyards, rifle pull through cords, and lines for tents and hammocks.

The town also created a steel wire net for the admiralty to catch U-boats that were coming in close to the coast.

An exhibition at Bridport Museum entitled 'Home Front, Home' has explored the lives of seven of the women workers in the Bridport net industry during the war, and explores the challenges they faced and looks at how they had to adapt to maintain the home front.

Homes in the county also took in child refugees, wounded soldiers and prisoners of war.

Eggs in particular were needed, with a National Egg Collection set up with the aim to get fresh eggs to the wounded soldiers in France.

One dedicated egg collector was Chrissie Squire from Chideock, who personalised eggs she sent by painting pictures on them or adding an encouraging word.

The National Egg Collection saw 20 million eggs sent to soldiers who needed them, and Chrissie's eggs were so popular, that a lottery or draw was used to decide who would get it.

Neil Mattingly's research in last month's Bridport and Lyme Regis News told us of a military hospital for wounded soldiers in Uplyme.

As part of Neil's research into the 14 Charmouth villagers who lost their lives during the war, he found that Rhode Hill House was used as a Voluntary Auxilliary Hospital (VAD) during the First World War.

At the outbreak of the war, the British Red Cross and the Order of St John of Jerusalem combined to form the Joint War Committee, using secured buildings, equipment and staff from the Red Cross to set up temporary hospitals.

Women in the local neighbourhood volunteered at these hospitals on a part-time basis, with hospital workers often needing to supplement voluntary work with paid roles.

Amongst those to volunteer were the Whittington sisters in Charmouth, who provided support to the soldiers in the hospital.

Sadly, it wasn't just those who had been on the front line that lost their lives during the war.

Mildred Isabel Reid. whose name is on the Charmouth War Memorial, was daughter of John and Isabel Reid of Fountain Mead, Charmouth.

She worked at VAD Hospital No. 1 in Exeter from 1915 until 1918, and lived at the Wilds Hotel (New Commercial Inn), in Charmouth.

Sadly for Mildred's family, she died on December, 10 1918, age 33, making her the second casualty of war in the family after her brother died in 1916.

Millions of men lost their lives during the war, and their memories have lived on through those who researched into their lives, those who organise exhibits or memorials to commemorate the end of the war, and war memorials too.

Remembrance day not only gives us the chance to remember those that died during the war, but the individuals in the towns and villages who were affected, whether by getting involved in the war effort, or by losing a loved one.

To finish this remembrance piece, we will end with a poem from Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae entitled 'In Flanders Fields'.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow,

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky,

The larks, still bravely singing, fly,

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago,

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw,

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow,

In Flanders fields.