People across Dorset will be privately paying their respects today as they mark Remembrance Sunday at home this year.

It comes as the coronavirus pandemic forces many commemorations to be scaled back.

Private events being held locally can be watched online - see details below - while the annual service at the Cenotaph in London is being screened on multiple channels.

Residents are invited to come out on their doorsteps to pay their respects and observe a two minutes’ silence at 11am.

The Royal British Legion is also encouraging people to download a poppy and donate online after announcing that "for the first time in poppy appeal history there will be no collectors on our streets".

People can join commemorations by sharing family histories, personal stories and messages of remembrance using the hashtag #WeWillRememberThem online.

Meanwhile, genealogy company Ancestry has made more than one billion UK wartime records free to access over the weekend for people to discover the roles their family played in the First and Second World Wars.

Churches in England, while allowed to remain open for private prayer, cannot host services due to a ban on communal worship during the four-week lockdown to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

With social distancing restrictions in place across the UK and a full lockdown in England, the UK Government has encouraged councils to ensure remembrance services are short, entirely outdoors and held in front of limited numbers.

But, despite allowing open-air services, the Government has stressed to event organisers that the public should be discouraged from attending in person.

Locally, Weymouth’s Annual Service of Remembrance will be taking place at the Nothe Fort. This is an invite-only event not open to the public.

However it will be available to stream live on Facebook - see https://www.facebook.com/events/362898254962990/

Weymouth Town Council invites residents to get involved and mark the moment with a two minutes' silence at home, or on their doorstep.

In Bridport, the day's events will also be live streamed through Bridport Town Council's Facebook and YouTube pages so residents can follow proceedings from home.

A church service, led by Bridport Team Ministry, will start the day at 10am, followed by the Act of Remembrance at 10.45am, which will be attended by the mayor of Bridport, Ian Bark, and a small number of armed forces representatives and civic dignitaries.

Later in the day, a secular Remembrance event, led by Cllr Anne Rickard, will take place via Zoom at 3pm. The event is an informal open invitation to members of the community to share their thoughts and feelings on Remembrance Day. Residents are invited to do this through poem, song, written or spoken language or if they prefer, just to listen in.

A Remembrance video tribute will be also be available on the town council website.

Further information can be found at the Bridport Town Council website or its Facebook page.

In Wyke Regis, Weymouth there will be no Remembrance service at All Saints Church.

However you can join an online virtual commemoration, from 10.50am by viewing www.WykeRegis.TV

Meanwhile Dorset Army Cadet Force (ACF) has decided to hold a virtual Remembrance parade.

Following on from previous years where individual detachments produced short video tributes to support their Remembrance Day parade activities, County PR Officer Lt Thor Elsson and West (Waterloo) Company Commander Maj Kerry Barker came up with the idea to expand the concept to encompass the whole of Dorset ACF.

Cadets and adult volunteers paid their respects to all those service personnel past and present providing photographs of themselves saluting, along with various readings, including one which was also accompanied by a cadet using British Sign Language, and even a performance of the Last Post and Reveille.

Lt Thor Elsson said: “The video was put together to show that despite not being able to parade, cadets and staff still wanted to show their support to all those service personnel past and present who have given so much so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms we have today. We may not have been able to physically parade within our communities but by adapting our approach to a ‘virtual’ one we have been able to continue to pay our respects.”

See the video link https://youtu.be/ZYiCEsYU1jk

The annual service at the Cenotaph in London will go ahead today, with the ceremony being held outdoors and invited guests required to observe social distancing.

Although the public are unable to attend, the event will be broadcast live on multiple channels, with people encouraged to take part in the two minutes' silence at home.

The Queen and members of the royal family are expected to join the country in commemorating the nation's war dead at the Cenotaph.

Among those who are expected are the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

About 150 personnel from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force will be on parade at the Cenotaph, with musicians from all three services to play traditional music for the service, including the Last Post played by Buglers of the Royal Marines.