CROWDS of people have been stopping in Wimborne to watch an artist engraving a special commemorative Diamond Jubilee stone.

Anna Bowen started inscribing the four-foot-square stone outside Lloyds TSB bank in the Square last Monday and will continue after it is placed into the pavement today.

Each character of ‘Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 1952 – 2012’ takes an hour to mark into the Branshaw Sandstone.

Anna said: “A lot of very nice people have been stopping and saying how interesting the stone is.

“My line of work is permanent features that stand the test of time but this one is going to be seen by so many people as they are going to be walking over it.”

Wimborne Minster Town Council and East Dorset District Council have paid for the stone.