A BUS covered in images of wartime Sussex will be unveiled to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

The Brighton and Hove Bus Company double-decker will run throughout the city for four years – to mark the 100 years of the 1914 to 1918 war.

The service includes images of Brighton, Hove and Portslade at the time of the Great War as well as photographs of some of the residents who fought on the Western Front. It is a joint initiative between Brighton and Hove City Council and the bus company.

Martin Harris, managing director of Brighton and Hove Bus Company, said: “It has been a long time in the planning but it looks really good, we are very pleased.

“Everything we do is about the community, that’s what we are about. We wanted to be part of the community commemorations of the centenary and this seemed like a good way to be part of that.

“A bus is very visual and it is a good way of getting a story across to a lot of people.”

The bus will be unveiled at a wreath laying ceremony at the Regency Square war memorial today at 10.45am.

It will then be available to run routes throughout the city.

Among the images on the side of the bus will include photographs of the Royal Pavilion when it was a hospital for Indian soldiers.

On the opposite side there are photographs showing a postcard from Ted Wartley, who was based near Hove Recreation Ground and Robert ‘Pom Pom’ Whiting, the Albion goalkeeper who was killed on the Western Front.

There is also an image of the downstairs gymnasium at Ralli Hall, which was used as a drill hall, a photograph of soldiers at Windlesham training camp at Portslade and a recruitment poster for the 1st Sussex Battalion Training Corp at Newhaven Fort.

Councillor Bill Randall, the council’s heritage champion, said: “The heritage bus is a creative and original way of marking the anniversary of World War One in Brighton and Hove and it reminded us that more than 1,000 buses were used to take troops to the front line between 1914 and 1918.

“The bus will be out on the city’s streets for the next four years providing a highly visible reminder of how the war affected the lives of so many local people in so many different ways.

“This is just one of many events being held in the city to mark the centenary of the World War One.”