They will be remembered...

The Black Watch were remembered in prayer as hundreds gathered in bright autumn sunshine at the seafront war memorial to pay tribute to the fallen of past conflicts.

Ex-service veterans and members of town youth organisations had paraded from Devonshire Square to the memorial, led by a lone piper.

The standards of more than a dozen ex-service and other organisations were assembled around the memorial as Lt. Col. Frank Field, president of Bexhill branch of the Royal British Legion, told the assembled company:"It is great to see so many of you."

Hilary Malpass' latest poem of remembrance was read by local Scout Michael Overbury.

The branch padre, the Rev Robert Coates, was a Royal Navy padre for five years before coming to Bexhill. Addressing his remarks principally to the many young people taking part, he said he had been impressed by the way the Two Minutes' silence had been observed by increasing numbers of people in recent years.

The immediacy of television coverage of conflicts was bringing home to people more than ever before the awfulness of war. It was not just something read about in books but happening on-screen before them.

But for his parents and his grandparents' generation, two world wars had been a life-and-death issue. These generations had done their duty for King (as it then was) and Country.

He told the youngsters: "Many were not much older than you - perhaps 10 years older, that's all."

He added: "We still live in a world where we have to slay people for what we believe to be right - and what they believe to be right as well.

"Today, we pay tribute to those who laid down their lives for our freedom. We remember also those who today are going out to war and who perhaps will not come back.

"Let not their sacrifice be in vain."

The Exhortation was given by the Royal British Legion branch chairman, Len Lawrence. The Sailing Club's starting cannon signalled 11am. Buglers sounded The Last Post and the standards dipped in tribute, the silence broken only by the sound of gulls and the breaking surf.

The first wreath laid after the sounding of Reveille was by Rother chairman Cllr David Vereker. Town Mayor Cllr Stuart Earl laid the second.

Those that followed included the Royal British Legion Bexhill branch, the Royal British Legion Bexhill branch Women's Section and Central Section, Royal Naval Association, Maritime Volunteer Service, Royal Artillery Association, Burma Star Association, Royal Corps of Signals Northern Ireland, ATS and WRAC Association, Royal Air Forces Association, Air Crew Association, Coastguards, the Association of Ex-Servicemen from the Intelligence Services of France and Allied Countries, Army Cadet Force, United Nations Association, Sussex Police, St John Ambulance Brigade, St John Ambulance Badgers, British Red Cross, Bexhil Rotary Club, Bexhill Lions Club, Scout Association and Guides.

The Kohima Epitaph was given by the Royal British Legion chairman.

A similar scene was enacted at Little Common where a parade which included ex-service veterans together with Scouts and Air Training Corps cadets, marched from Legion headquarters to St Mark's Church for a service of remembrance followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the village war memorial.

Deputy Town Mayor Cllr Joy Hughes laid the first wreath.

Town leaders were among the congregation at the afternoon service of Remembrance in St Augustine's Church.

The Two Minutes' Silence was observed in the town on Remembrance Day itself last Thursday.

Staff at the Post Office stood in tribute to the fallen. Schoolchildren stood with heads bowed at the Little Common War Memorial.

The signal maroon was fired from the Town Hall where from the front steps Rother chairman Cllr David Vereker and Town Mayor Cllr Stuart Earl led Rother staff and councillors in marking the 11th day of the 11th month.