THURROCK branch of the RAF Association marked Battle of Britain Day with a service at the war memorial in Grays High Street on Sunday, 18 September.

The service was led by Methodist preacher Maureen MacPherson, who is padre to the local ATC Corp, and attended by civic dignitaries including MP Jackie Doyle-Price and Mayor Cllr James Halden, members of Thurrock Council and membvers of local military organisations.

The service was scaled down to recognise the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II and members of the Air Cadets and Sea Cadets who would normally parade were stood down. However, standards of the RAF Association and the Royal British Leagion were paraded.

At the conclusion of the service wreaths were laid, including one by RAFA branch president Jim Gooding, 97, a veteran who was part of a Lancaster bomber crew that flew missions over occupied Europe during the Second World War.