THIS weekend people will gather to remember the great conflicts of the past and the many millions of men and women who died fighting for our freedom and the freedom of others.

And during a week of paying respects to those who lost their lives, a number of events are taking place to mark the occasion.

In Beccles this Sunday people are welcome to join 10.30am services at St Michael’s Church and at St Luke’s Church Centre on Rigbourne Hill.

In the afternoon the Royal British Legion service of remembrance will take place beginning with a wreath laying ceremony at the Beccles war memorial at 2pm and followed by a service in St Michael’s at 2.45pm.

The service will be led by the Rev John Beauchamp, the preacher will be the Rev Jo Jacobs from Hungate Church, and the service will include Jodie Harris singing the first world war ballad, ‘The green fields of France.’

At 6.30pm at St Luke’s on Sunday there is also a Service for Peace with prayers for peace in the world, our nation, the communities in which we live and in our own lives.

“Our freedom as a nation is something we should never take for granted,” said the Rev Beauchamp, rector at St Michael’s and St Luke’s.

“Our remembering of the sacrifice of others reminds us of our responsibility to build a just and fair future for our children and the generations to come. The just and fair future that so many we remember at this time fought for and died for.”

In Bungay on Sunday a remembrance parade will leave the Royal British Legion club in Priory Lane at about 2.40pm for a short march through the town with standards.

There will be a service at St Mary’s Church at 3pm and this will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the war memorial at about 3.40pm.

In Halesworth there will be a parade through The Thoroughfare at about 2.30pm to St Mary’s Church for a service at 3pm.

In Loddon there will be a parade from White Horse corner at Chedgrave, starting at 10.15am through the main street to Church Plain, for the laying of the wreaths at the war memorial and the reading of the names of the fallen, followed by a service at 10.55am in Holy Trinity Church. The parade will be led by a lone piper.

There will also be a remembrance service at All Saints Church in Chedgrave starting at Langley war memorial and a remembrance service at St Margaret’s Church at Hales at 3pm.

People across the district observed a two-minute silence on Armistice Day.