PICTURES: Remembrance Day in Littlehampton, Angmering, East Preston and Rustington

Young and old took part in ceremonies at war memorials and at churches.

Among them was a dwindling number of veterans from the Second World War for whom the memory of fallen comrades was all the more personal.

In Littlehampton, members of service organisations were joined by uniformed youth organisations and community leaders on the traditional parade from the Town Clock, through the town centre and down Beach Road to the war memorial, led by the band of the TS Sussex Sea Cadets.

Shoppers in the pedestrian precinct paused to watch the procession pass by, as everyday life was put on hold at least for a few moments.

A minute’s silence was observed at the memorial, where many more townspeople attended the brief ceremony. Standards of the Littlehampton Royal British Legion branch, which organised the event, and other service and youth groups were lowered as a mark of respect.

It was followed by the Remembrance Sunday service at nearby St Mary’s Church, after which wreaths were laid on the memorial, and town mayor Emma Neno and others, including Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex, David Tupper, and his wife, Hilary, took the salute as the parade re-formed and marched past.

It was a similar picture in East Preston, where the Arundel and Littlehampton District Scout Band led the Remembrance Sunday parade through the village.

Villagers lined the route as the procession made its way to the war memorial in The Street, where, again, the minute’s silence was observed on the 94th anniversary of the guns falling silent in November, 1918, at the end of the First World War.

The East Preston and Kingston Royal British Legion branch organised the war memorial ceremony, which was attended by service and youth organisations, carrying their standards, other village organisations, clergy from the churches and community leaders including councillors.

Even the village pub entered into the spirit when Angmering held its Remembrance Sunday ceremony.

Anyone wearing a poppy and calling in at The Lamb during Sunday lunchtime was offered a pint of London Pride for just £2, a generous discount on the normal price.

And on a fine autumn morning, it’s likely that many will have taken up the offer after paying their respects to those who left the village to fight in two world wars and other conflicts, and never came home again.

As in many other places across Sussex, numbers seemed much higher in Angmering this year.

Thousands flooded the streets of Rustington to pay their respects to the village’s fallen heroes.

Organisers estimate more than 2,000 people attended the ceremony at Rustington’s war memorial, one of the largest crowds at the event in recent years.

More than 100 people from about a dozen groups, including service and youth organisations, paraded through the village’s shopping centre while bystanders and ex-service personnel lined the road to watch.

Read the full story in the Littlehampton Gaszette (November 15 edition).