The small village of Platt paid a heavy price during the First World War.

Around 200 men enlisted to fight and a quarter of them never came home.

The grief-stricken villagers decided to erect a monument to their fallen, and furthermore decided to house it in a village hall which would be become the focal point of the community so residents would be reminded of the servicemen's great sacrifice on every visit.

After a public subscription to raise the finds, the Platt War Memorial Hall opened its doors on November 18, 1922, on the corner of Long Mill Lane and Maidstone Road.

On the north facing wall a permanent memorial to the fallen, designed by H.G Murphy, then a leading figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement, was installed.

After the Second World War, two further plaques were added to include the names of the fallen from the 1939-45 conflict, this time including civilians who had been killed by enemy action.

Time took its toll on the building and eventually the village decided a new hall was needed.

The old War Memorial Hall closed in July 2016, but the memorial itself was transferred brick by brick and rebuilt over several months in the new War Memorial Hall in Platinum Way, which opened on September 3, 2016.

This weekend, which is Remembrance weekend, the village will celebrate the hall's centenary with a three-day exhibition of life in Platt over the past 100 years.

On display will be two large information boards representing each decade, plus a broad range of artefacts relating to Platt and the nearby villages that make up the parish of St Mary's Platt.

Year 6 pupils at Platt School have been working on their own special history project and their findings will also be on display at the exhibition.

This will include a photo from the annual church fair of 1924, when villagers dressed in 18th century costume for the event with an Old English Theme. It proved so popular the theme was continued for several years and attracted visitors from all over Kent.

There are also reminders of Platt's experiences during the Second World War, with members of the ARP standing over a bomb crater in Platt Woods, taken in 1940.

In the 1950s, the nearby Royal Oak pub at Wrotham became a popular refreshment stop for works outings to the coast – as this photograph of buses lined up outside the pub shows. The bar must have been crowded!

Scott Wishart has been the village archivist and historian for about 15 years, continuing the work of the late Peter Gelliot who began the archive in the 1960s.

Mr Wishart has made a number of short films covering the parish in both world wars, and during the pandemic and at other special occasions.

These will be running throughout the day in the small hall.

Mr Wishart has spent a year gathering and collating the material for the exhibition which he has dedicated to the memory of Mr Gelliot.

He confessed: "I shall be very glad when it's up and running."

Further details of the archive can be found here.

The exhibition is open between 10am and 4pm on Friday and Saturday, and between 10.30am and 4pm on Sunday. Entry is free.