FALLEN heroes were remembered in Dorset today with parades and services beside war memorials.

Thousands of people gathered in and around Bournemouth's Central Gardens to pay their respects to those who died in the two World Wars and other conflicts.

A parade of ex-service associations and youth organisations marched through the town centre and through the Central Gardens to the war memorial.

A field gun was sounded to mark the beginning and end of the two minutes’ silence.

The service was conducted by the Reverend Dr Ian Terry, team rector of Bournemouth Town Centre Parish. There were other clergy representing other denominations and faiths.

The Mayor of Bournemouth – Councillor Lawrence Williams – joined councillors and civic dignitaries along with armed service representatives and the public in remembering all victims of war. 

At the end of the service, there was a wreath-laying ceremony.
All surrounding roads were closed for the moving service.  

In Poole, medals and brass instruments gleamed in the autumn sunshine as dozens of serving military personnel, veterans, uniformed youth groups, and council officials marched through Poole Park, led by the Poole Sea Cadets Marching Band.

Members of the public gathered to watch the parade make its way from the cricket pavilion towards the war memorial.

A Remembrance service, led by the mayor’s chaplain, began at 10.50am. The Salvation Army band accompanied the congregation in a hymn before the sounding of the Last Post.

The firing of a field gun marked the beginning and end of a two minutes’ silence.

More hymns, readings and prayers followed before the laying of wreaths. The Mayor of Poole, Cllr Lindsay Wilson, laid the first wreath at the war memorial.

Following the service, the mayor and the Deputy Lieutenant took the salute from the parade, which made its way back to the cricket pavilion before being dismissed.

Veterans, civic dignitaries and youngsters took part in Christchurch's solemn parade to mark Remembrance Sunday.

Setting off from the Royal British Legion in Bargates at 9.40am, the procession, led by the Royal British Legion Christchurch Band, made its way through the crowd arrayed along the High Street, pausing briefly to be joined by councillors at the Mayor's Parlour.

Blessed with a bright, sunny morning, the line of some 300 who had gathered to pay their respects then continued on to the cemetery of Christchurch's Priory Church where the wreath-laying ceremony took place.

The Mayor of Christchurch, Councillor Nick Geary, along with representatives from all three service branches, police, the Scouts, Women's Institute and other institutions each laid a wreath of poppies before the standards.

Subsequently, the parade and crowd of hundreds of onlookers entered the Priory Church for the service, led by the Reverend Canon Charles Stewart.

Within the church was heard the Act of Remembrance, the Exhortation and the playing of the Last Post before two minutes of silence was observed, and the Kohima Epitaph.

After the service the parade reformed and returned to the Legion via the High Street, with the mayor taking the salute as it passed the parlour.