A TOWN is to hold its first in-person Anzac Day service since 2019 after it was cancelled twice due to Covid restrictions.

Weymouth Town Council will host a service of remembrance at 11am on Monday, April 25, in recognition of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) Day.

The service will take place at the Anzac Memorial on the seafront opposite the Hotel Prince Regent.

This is the first year since 2019 that the Anzac Service on Weymouth's seafront has been able to go ahead in-person due to coronavirus restrictions.

The Mayor of Weymouth, local councillors, representatives from ex-service organisations and associations, standard bearers, and CMDR Luke Miller representing the Australian High Commission will attend the service commemorating Anzac Day on Monday, April 25 at 11am.

The Anzac Memorial on the seafront, where the service will be held, commemorates the thousands of Australian and New Zealand volunteer service personnel who passed through camps and hospitals in Dorset during the First World War between battles in the Middle East and those on the Western Front in Europe.

A three-sided Monolith was unveiled on Weymouth's seafront on June 1, 2005 - 90 years after the first Australian and New Zealand Arm Corps Troops arrived in Weymouth after action in Gallipoli in 1915.

Cllr Colin Huckle, Mayor of Weymouth Town Council said: “Weymouth Town Council is honoured to have the opportunity to host this important Anzac Day service at the Anzac Memorial on Weymouth seafront. The event offers the forces family and wider community a chance to commemorate and honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army who fought at Gallipoli during World War I.

“Everyone is welcome to attend the service in recognition of the sacrifice made by personnel of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.”

Members of the public are invited to attend the service. Wreaths (including one sent from New Zealand) will be laid by the Mayor of Weymouth, Cllr Colin Huckle, and local ex-service organisations. The service will be carried out by the Mayor’s Chaplain Rev. Deacon Geoffrey Carey.