RESIDENTS and businesses in Witney are being urged to turn off their lights for an hour to mark the centenary of the First World War.

Witney Town Council is making plans to commemorate the start of the war and wants the town to get involved with the national Lights Out initiative.

The event encourages everyone leave just one single light burning on Monday, August 4 between 10pm and 11pm, marking the hour that Britain entered the Great War.

The council’s events and communications officer Polly Inness said: “It would be fantastic to see as many residents, bars, restaurants and other businesses get involved in this so that we mark it in a really meaningful way. It would be particularly special given the poignancy of foreign secretary Edward Grey’s words at the time, when he said ‘the lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime’.”