CHILDREN from Harefield Infants School today (Friday) paid their annual visit to the graves of the brave ANZAC soldiers who lost their lives during World War One.

The village of Harefield has a special connection with the Australian and New Zealand military, after Harefield Hospital was used as a designated war time hospital for the injured.

Each year children from the village pay their respects by laying flowers at the graves of the soldiers in St Marys Churchyard, off Church Hill.

Today, the tradition, dating back as long as villagers can remember, carried on, backed by a glorious day of sunshine..

The lost soldiers still matter a lot to the Australians and New Zealanders, and last year the children's visit to the graveyard made national news in Australia.

Diana Wallace, deputy headteacher at Harefield Infants School, in High Street Harefield, said: "As the families of the Australian soldiers cannot get here to lay flowers and see the graves, it means a lot to them that the children from our school are here to do it.

"Soldiers who fought in Gallipoli who were injured were brought all the way back here to Harefield.

"The village has a very strong bond with Australia, and the children have been learning all about it this week."

On their return to school after the Easter break last week, children learnt about ANZAC history.

It is also the first time new headteacher Bernie Lloyd has had the privilege of being part of the annual celebrations.

Ms Wallace added: "The children have been learning songs, and we have been teaching them about what happened.

"They have also been learning about Kangaroos and Koalas to focus on links with Australia.

"A lot of the children taking part this week, their parents actually did the same thing when they attended the school."

On arriving at the churchyard on Friday, the children attended a short ceremony given by Reverend Andrew Gandon of Harefield, who led his 15 th and final ANZAC service before he moves on to a new role elsewhere in the country.

A special service will be held place at 3pm on Sunday at St Marys Church to commemorate the day.