SOLDIERS will be on parade in Colchester on Remembrance Sunday.

Troops from Colchester Garrison’s 16 Air Assault Brigade will march through the town ahead of a service at the war memorial, in the High Street, at 11am.

Led by the Band of The Parachute Regiment, 80 soldiers from 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment and 13 Air Assault Support Regiment The Royal Logistic Corps will march through the town centre, alongside veterans and youth organisations.

Army reserve units will be represented by 40 troops from 36 (Eastern) Signal Squad-ron and B Squadron, 254 Medical Regiment.

A further 120 soldiers, representing all 16 air assault brigade units based in Colchester will attend the service.

A private ceremony will be held beforehand at Merville Barracks’ Memorial Garden for families of 16 Air Assault Brigade soldiers killed on operations to lay wreaths and pay tribute to their relatives.

The Rev Alan Steele, senior chaplain, said: “It is an honour for the personnel of 16 Air Assault Brigade to stand alongside the communities of Essex and Suffolk to commemorate the fallen.”

Hundreds of people will gather at remembrance ceremonies at other venues across north Essex.

Ceremonies will be held in Harwich, Clacton, Manningtree and the Braintree district.

At 2pm on Sunday, members of the Braintree Royal British Legion branch and the public will gather at Braintree and Bocking Public Gardens for a service, during which a wreath will be laid.

Members will then march to St Michael’s Church for a service.

In Witham, a Remembrance Day parade will begin in The Avenue at 2.30pm, passing down Collingwood Road and along Newland Street to the Memorial Gardens, where a wreath-laying service will take place at 3pm.

In Coggeshall, a service will be held at 10.45am in St Peter Ad Vincula Church before a wreath is laid at the warmemorial, in East Street.

A wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the warmemorial in the churchyard of Kelvedon’s St Mary the Virgin Church at 10.30am, before a service in the church at 11am.

! For coverage of Remembrance Sunday, see Monday’s Gazette.