FALLEN heroes have been remembered during a series of poignant services across Dorset and Hampshire.

Thousands of people gathered across the county to commemorate the service men and women who have given their lives in war in a tradition that began one year after the First World War, when King George V asked the public to observe a silence at 11am.

However in recent years civilians have used this time to acknowledge all of the service men and women who have died in combat.

In Ringwood a service was held at St Peter and St Paul Parish Church and in Fordingbridge wreaths were laid at the memorial gate, followed by a parade to St Mary’s Church for a service.

In Verwood the standard of the Verwood Women's section and the Verwood Royal British Legion standard were laid at the town's council offices.

And on November 11 at 11.00am Verwood held a short service for the fallen attended by pupils from the town's Trinity School who made poppies and wreaths. Prayers were read by Revd Julian Macro.

Poppies are worn because the flowers grew on the battlefields after the war ended, as described in the famous World War One poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae.