Scores of Essex people took part in the historic Queen Mother's 100th birthday parade.

She defied terrorist attempts to disrupt her pageant and ensured the long-awaited royal centenary parade went ahead.

Among the 7,000 in Wednesday's parade were the 17th Colchester Sea Scout Group who sent a semaphore message spelling out Happy Birthday while marching.

But up to an hour before the start of the massive parade the Scouts were still making their semaphore flags.

Leader David Judge said the wrong flags had arrived on the day so they had to remove them from one set of sticks and attach them to another.

Great Bentley man Mervyn Harridence, of Cavalcade Productions, was an artistic director at the spectacular event.

Unfortunately one of his plans for a huge inflatable birthday cake for the finale had to be scrapped.

Mr Judge said: "He deserves tremendous credit because that was the only thing that did not happen to plan, all the other things were brilliant."

Pupils from Heathlands Primary School in West Bergholt dressed as decimalised coins to represent the 1970s and six members for the Colchester Air Training Corps also took part.

Essex members of the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment joined the fun.

Second Lieutenant Gareth Allen from Colchester carried the regimental colour.

Ellie Mackay, 12, from Lower Langley, Great Tey, joined the Kentwell Hall Re-enactment Society which represented the 1940s.

And pupils from Brinkley Grove Primary School, in Colchester, represented the 1980s and appeared as Alice in Computerland.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.