The centenary events at the Hampden Presbyterian Community Church and Hall start with a performance tonight at 7 o'clock followed by an exhibition of memorabilia collected from around the area which covers the battlefronts from Syria, Palestine, Gallipoli, France, Belgium and Germany.
One of the organisers, Alison MacTavish, has three items from her family's connection to World War 1 in the exhibition - two German medical kits complete with bandages and bottles of medicine, and a German stretcher bearer's gas mask, in its original tin with filters in the lid.
They were from her grandfather, Charles Mackie Begg, who served as a doctor from Gallipoli to Europe.
The family never found out the story behind the three items because Dr Begg died about two months after Armistice Day from Spanish flu while working at an army hospital in Britain.
Other items include a German Prussian dress helmet and ''pork pie'' stretcher bearer's beret, which have been loaned by Oamaru's Lindsay Malcolm.
The exhibition includes items sent home to local families by soldiers in Europe, along with posters and postcards from the war years.
An unusual piece is a collection of acorns from the memorial oak dedicated to Hampden man John Fitzgibbon.
He served as a tunneller creating the ''underground city'' under Arras, in France, from which 20,000 allied troops blew up German troops on a ridge then attacked the lines.
A Hampden woman on holiday in France has sent back photographs and video of the ''city'', which will be on display and play during the exhibition, which runs from 10am to 4pm tomorrow and Sunday.
