Within the cemetery at Lenham lie the graves of 33 Canadian soldiers from the First World War.

Most of them were gassed at the front and evacuated to the sanatorium at Lenham to recover.

Andrew Bonfonti's case was slightly different. Private Bonfonti of the 47th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, was wounded by shrapnel in the last few days of the war and evacuated to Lenham hospital for treatment. He was recovering from his wounds, but he had also contracted tuberculosis and he died on March 20, 1919 - four months after the war ended. He was 27.

His only known surviving relative, Diane Bonfonti, a great niece who lives in Canada, contacted Lenham resident Les Highton via Facebook and asked whether a poppy could be laid on his grave to mark the centenary of his death.

But Lenham Parish Council together with the local branch of the Royal British Legion did rather better than that, organising a service of remembrance that paid tribute to both Private Bonfonti and his 32 fellow countrymen.

The Rev Millie Hart, associate priest at Lenham, conducted the service, the Last Post and Reveille were played by Pauline Fisher, and wreaths were laid by Captain Yvan Shank, Chief of Staff at the Canadian High Commission, by Megan Maltby on behalf of the War Graves Commission, by Bill Peter, president of the Lenham and Harrietsham branch of the RBL, and by Richard Green, chairman of Lenham Parish Council.

More than 50 villagers attended the service.