SCHOOLCHILDREN have emulated players from the Premier League and Football League to mark an impromptu ceasefire 100 years after the event.

Several schools took part in re-enactments of the Christmas truce, staging special football matches to mark the centenary.

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The events marked soldiers from both sides downing their weapons near Ypres, Belgium, on Christmas Day 1914.

Soldiers in the trenches met in ‘no man’s land’, with British, German, French, Belgian and Indian soldiers singing Christmas songs, exchanging souvenirs, and taking photographs together.

Many also played football.

Pupils from Padiham Green CE Primary held a special event on Tuesday.

Deputy head, Janet Ennis, said: “The children have been working on learning about the war since the beginning of term.

“Many of the children have also been to Germany on an externally funded trip so this event topped off a lot of learning on the subject.

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“We split the 80 children into two groups and separated them at opposite ends of the field with head boy Ben Bradshaw emerging from the other side into ‘no man’s land’.

“He was met in the middle by Freya Gore, they shook hands and exchanged gifts before beckoning the rest of the children to join them to do the same.

“Three matches took place, with no referees or rules.

“It was just a fun kickabout, very much like it would have been 100 years ago.

“Skipping ropes and wooden stakes were placed in the grass nearby to recreate the trenches.

“The children sang Silent Night in German, then English and then combined the final verse into both languages.

“It was very moving and all the children participated with enthusiasm.

“At the end of the games the children gathered together and the Last Post was played and we sang other carols.”

The children also attached personalised messages and poems to wreaths which were exchanged between the teams.

St John’s RC Primary Burnley also paid tribute to the soldiers on both sides.

The children in Mrs Bibby’s class researched and wrote about the famous game.

The children then played the game on the field.

It was described as a ‘very dignified occasion’.

To add poignancy, it even snowed during the match.

Earlier this month all professional players kicked off a unique photographic record of football a century on from the iconic moment.

At fixtures in the Barclays Premier League, the Sky Bet Championship and the FA Cup second round from December 6-8, all 22 players in the Premier League and FA Cup matches who started the matches posed together in a group photograph as a mark of respect for those who played in the 1914 Christmas truce match.

In 1914, roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the unofficial cessations of hostility along the Western Front.