AN INTERNATIONAL contingent of mayors attended the annual remembrance service at Wormelow – home to the museum dedicated to the memory of Anglo/French spy Violette Szabó.

A select crowd gathered at the War Memorial - a cherry tree on the village’s Millennium Green.

The mayor of Hereford Councillor Cat Hornsey invited the visiting mayors from Dillenburg a town in Germany, Vierzon, a commune in France, Jaworzno, a city in Poland and Zhytomyr, a city in Ukraine to attend the ceremony and place a wreath.

The service was led by Rev’d Mark Johnson with other wreaths being laid by representatives of Herefordshire Council, South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman along with the local branch of the Royal British Legion, Much Birch Parish Council and The Pilgrim Hotel.

Pupils of Much Birch Primary School, also laid a wreath at the memorial and recited a poem in memory of Violette Szabó written by Maurice John Hart in 1992, dedicated to the extraordinary World War II British secret agent, which included the poignant lines: "She knew the score. She sought no fame.

“The stakes were high and she lost the game."

The event is normally organised by Rosemary Rigby, aged 90, the curator of the Violette Szabo museum, but having just undergone a knee operation, she was unable to attend.

She said in a recorded message, played at the ceremony, that she was very saddened not to be in attendance and added: “I had planned to be back in time, but this operation has beaten me. I hope to be back next year and organise it properly,” the comment was greeted with a burst of laughter from the crowd.