An exhibition celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the arrival of the Falmouth tank will be held at the town's art gallery.

At the end of The Great War in 1918, Falmouth was recognised by the Government and the National War Savings Committee for its financial contribution of nearly £600,000 to the war effort according to a Packet article from September 19 1919.

The town was presented with a tank which arrived by train on Saturday September 13 1919.

Thousands of people lined the route as the 27-ton mark IV tank, which is said to still have had traces of mud on it from the battlefields, drove from the Falmouth Recreation Ground down Killigrew Street led by the town band.

Behind came the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment), the Fire Brigade, Salvation Army band, the town mayor, councillors and mace bearers.

12 members of the "Comrades of The Great War" formed a guard of honour on each side as it slowly made its way down to The Moor.

It was expertly manoeuvred into position on a specially-constructed concrete plinth beside the Packet Memorial by Captain Farrar and his crew of Lieutenant MacNab, Sergeant Draper and Privates Goodall, Tiffin and Drewett.

Mayor Charles Spargo and other officials climbed aboard to address the people of the town, thanking them for the hardships they endured and for the financial contributions.

He also paid tribute to the brave young Falmothians who paid the ultimate sacrifice and never returned home.

Once in position, the drive chains were removed making the vehicle non-operational.

It remained on the plinth for eight years until it was removed and scrapped in 1927.

In total, 264 tanks were presented to towns and cities throughout Britain, five of which came to Cornwall (Falmouth, Redruth, Camborne, Penzance and Truro).

The only surviving presentation tank can still be seen today in the town centre of Ashford in Kent.