Hundreds of performers are set to mark Remembrance weekend today with a youth festival in Folkestone.

The Leas Cliff Hall will resound to the sounds of choirs, a jazz band and pipes and drums, as part of a four-hour performance in aid of the Royal British Legion poppy appeal.

Organiser Oliver Simpson is just 23, and came up with the idea last year in honour of his brother, Matthew, who is serving with the RAF in Afghanistan as a radio operator for the 653 Squadron.

Taking part in the Youth Festival of Remembrance are performers including the Brockhill Park Performing Arts College Choir, the Blue Falcons Gymnastics Display Team and air cadets from various squadrons around the Folkestone area.

The event, which starts at 6pm tonight, includes a World War II singalong, prayers and the last post.

Last year Oliver, of Oxenden Road, Folkestone, helped raise £2,000 for the appeal, and hopes the event will double that this year.

He organised the event for the first time in 2010, after a 10-year absence.