RESPECTS will be paid on Remembrance Sunday in Bridport and the surrounding areas with parades and the laying of wreaths.

Bridport's Remembrance Parade will return this year, starting in East Street and heading down South Street to the war memorial.

West Dorset MP Chris Loder, the deputy lord lieutenant, town mayor Cllr Ian Bark and other local dignitaries will join current and former members of the armed forces.

The Act of Remembrance and wreath laying at the war memorial at 11am will be followed by an address by the Cllr Bark and an outdoor service led by Rev Pete Stone of the Bridport Team Ministry. The service is being held outdoors so that as many people as want to can attend, whilst limiting the risk of Covid-19 transmission. Bridport Town Council is encouraging people to respect the safety of others by wearing a mask and by maintaining as safe a distance as possible.

The parade will not continue back up South Street following the service as it has in previous years as the council believes some participants may find the lengthy parade too challenging.

Local organisations, residents and visitors are invited to share in an act of remembrance in Lyme Regis on Sunday, November 14.

Due to the ongoing concerns over Covid-19, the Parochial Church Council of St Michael's Parish Church has requested that there is not a service inside the building this year.

A parade, organised by the Lyme Regis branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL), will leave Langmoor Gardens at 10.30am, and local organisations are invited to join the procession.

The parade will proceed along Bridge Street and Church Street, before assembling in Monmouth Street facing the war memorial.

The mayor of Lyme Regis, Cllr Brian Larcombe MBE, will lead the civic party to observe the parade in front of the Guildhall before processing to the war memorial. The civic party will be joined by councillors and the Rev Sarah Godfrey.

At 10.54am, the Roll of Honour will be read by a representative of the president of the Lyme Regis branch of the RBL, followed at 10.58am by the reading of The Exhortation by a representative of the RBL.

The Last Post will sound before the two-minute silence at 11am.

The silence will be followed by the sounding of the Rouse and words from the Kohima Epitaph will be spoken.

The mayor and the president of the RBL will lay wreaths at the war memorial and local organisations are also invited to lay wreaths while Lyme Regis Town Band plays.

The Rev Sarah Godfrey will lead the assembled in prayer, followed by the national anthem.