TEENAGERs had the chance to tread in the footsteps of men from Devizes who fought and fell during the First World War when they made a poignant trip to the trenches of France and Belgium.

Pupils at Devizes School researched the background of old soldiers with the help of historian Richard Broadbent and many students had personal letters and photographs to help bring the lessons alive.

Head of history Tom Strickland said: "This helped them engage with the individual men who died for Devizes."

He also decided to recreate one of the famous images of the Battle of the Somme where troops were pictured in a sunken lane in no mans land just before an attack.

He said: "Asking the students to pose and think through the facial expressions had a profound effect on the students."

He said that every man from Devizes who died in the war had been individually researched and the 55 year ten pupils who went on the trip laid a poppy cross at the the 55 graves and remembrances across France and Belgium.

The pupils also visited the Menin Gate in Ypres which is a memorial dedicated to British and Commonwealth soldiers who died nearby.