The London Manx Society is staging a remembrance event with a difference this weekend.

The society says it is important to remember the men and women who died defending their country, but the vital efforts of the animals that served alongside them should not be forgotten.

It will lay a wreath at the Animals in War Memorial, in London's Park Lane, on Remembrance Day.

The monument, sculpted by David Backhouse, was unveiled in November 2004.

In World War I, one million horses were sent from Britain to France, of which only 60,000 returned.

During the conflict, more than eight million animals were killed on all sides, including countless mules and donkeys.

A member of the London Manx Society tells the story of a young Manx soldier who came across a horse at the front.

The animal became very excited and the young man recognised it as the one taken from his own home farm on the Isle of Man. The fate of the horse is not known.

The memorial itself has two inscriptions: 'This monument is dedicated to all the animals that served and died alongside British and allied forces in wars and campaigns throughout time', and 'They had no choice'.

The London Manx Society wreath will add another dedication in Manx Gaelic and English.

It will bear the words: 'In remembrance of the war service of all the innocent animals and their suffering on our behalf'.