A free exhibition to mark 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War will take open next week.

The temporary exhibition will run from Friday, June 13 to Sunday, November 16 and focuses on how the community pulled together and businesses adapted to life during the war.

Visitors can also find out how wartime conditions in St Albans compared to life in Germany with the help of contributions from the twin city of Worms at Keeping the Home Fires Burning.

To launch the exhibition, Verulamium Museum is hosting two talks on Friday, June 13 at 7pm about life in both countries during the First World War, where researcher Richard Howard will speak about the wartime years in St Albans.

Dr Daniel Nagel from the city archive at Worms, Germany, will then describe the experiences of people in the twin city.

Exhibition visitors will be able to read soldiers’ letters to loved ones and find out about the contribution made by St Albans scouts to the war effort. They will also hear recordings of local people recounting how St Albans was taken over by 8,000 soldiers based at training camps in the city.

Objects on display include memorial windows from the Folly Chapel in Wheathampstead and an embroidered wall hanging made by soldiers receiving treatment at Napsbury war hospital.

There is also a painting by local artist Frank O. Salisbury of the Second Lieutenant Frederick John Eric Freeman from Harpenden.

Exhibited alongside, is the cigarette case the soldier was carrying in his pocket when he was shot during the Battle of the Somme.

Tickets for the talk cost £8 and can be booked by calling 01727 819340.