The parents of a Garston soldier killed in Afghanistan said it “means so much” to them that more people are taking part in Remembrance Sunday services.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Watford’s town hall to mark Remembrance Sunday.

Wreaths were laid at The Peace Memorial before poetry was read.

The parents of Corporal Christopher Harrison – who was killed by an improvised explosive device in Helmand Province in 2010 – attended the ceremony.

Martin Harrison, Chris’s father, said: “It is very difficult.

“It is always emotional. It seems every year that there are a few more people paying tribute and it means so much to us that people are paying tribute to our son.

“You learn to live with it, but you never get over it.”

Cpl Harrison's mother Gill Harrison said: “I have found it harder this year.”

After an introduction by Watford Borough Council chairman Cllr Kareen Hastrick, elected mayor Dorothy Thornhill read out The Act of Remembrance, before the Last Post sounded marking the start of the two-minute silence.

Mayor Thornhill also read a section of a poem written in 1915, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae.

It reads: “We are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved and now, we live in Flanders fields.

“Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we thrown 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.”

Andrew Saunders, group scout leader of scout group 6th North Watford, who took part in the parade, said: “It is always a moving ceremony.

“I think it is important to involve the younger people as much as we can.

“It is good for them to have the opportunity to come along and to have the opportunity to see what is happening. I think it is good for them to understand about remembrance and the sacrifices that were made.”

Other Hertfordshire soldiers killed in Afghanistan include Capt Tom Sawyer, 26, who was killed by a javelin missile in ‘friendly fire’ during an operation with Danish forces to clear Taliban compounds in Afghanistan on January 14, 2009.

Pte Tom Lake, from Northwood, was killed by an explosion while patrolling the Jamal Kowi area of the Nahri Saraj district of central Helmand.

Retired corporal Ron Field, who served the British Army for six years in Germany between 1953 and 1959, said: “Events like this are fantastic. Everyone gets together at this time of year. I do not think you can actually put words on what it means.

“A lot of people have given a lot so we could carry on.

“But there are also the more recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is always going on.”

Pupils from Grove Academy and Coates Way School, accompanied by the Council's vice chairman, Darren Walford, laid a wreath on behalf of the council at the Anne Frank Memorial Tree in remembrance of all the children killed as a result of war or conflict.

They were accompanied by representatives of Watford Synagogue.

Watford’s chief inspector Dave Wheatley said: “I think it was very solemn and poignant. I thought it was just wonderful.

“I thought all the cadets and children were really fantastic.”