A huge choir and orchestra will perform a rousing British classic at Walthamstow Assembly Hall on Saturday November 17.

Nearly 300 singers and musicians will perform Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at 7.30pm to commemorate the World War I Armistice 100 years ago.

It will be a joint venture between South West Essex Choir (SWEC), London Forest Choir (LFC), and Forest Philharmonic Orchestra, together with children from Chingford Parish Church and Waltham Forest schools.

Benjamin Britten, a staunch pacifist, composed the Requiem to celebrate the opening in 1962 of the new Coventry Cathedral, which replaced the previous building destroyed by bombs in World War II.

In memory of the war dead, Britten combined a requiem mass with poems written by the renowned WWI war poet Wilfred Owen.

LFC’s musical director Jonathan Rathbone will conduct the full chorus and orchestra, while SWEC’s musical director Andrew Sackett will conduct a smaller orchestra accompanying two male soloists singing the poems.

Andrew Sackett said: “Our aim with this centenary event is to attract new audiences, particularly young people, to classical music and to establish links with community groups.”

Michael Emerson, director of music at Chingford Parish Church, will conduct the children’s choir accompanied by a chamber organ.

The concert will be the finale to Waltham Forest's commemorations of the 1918 Armistice and will be a prelude the area's programme as first London Borough of Culture 2019.

There will be two exhibitions from The University of Kent’s Gateways to the First World War project, available to view at the Assembly Hall from 6.30pm on the evening of the concert.

One focuses on the role of cinema in WW1 and the other on the contribution of Indian troops.

A third exhibition, of children’s drawings and digital material collected by War Child from areas of contemporary conflict, will be on display at the Magistrates Café, LBWF Town Hall campus.

It will accompany a free evening of talks at the café on November 14, with speakers offering historical and contemporary perspectives of war and its effect on children.

Tickets in advance £14-18, on the door £16-20; concessions £8 -£10 and children £3.

Available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/london-forest-choir-and-south-west-essex-choir Tel 07845 156494