Agathering of 70 honoured the service of five deceased war veterans from one local family at the 2023 Remembrance Day service at Southend.

The service was arranged by the Southend Progress Association and was staged by the flagpoles at the Western Beach.

The five ex-service personnel had close ties to Southend and Rendelsham.

Late family patriarch Sydney Stewart Menzies Smith saw active service overseas during World War I with the Australian Imperial Force along with his two brothers Clive and “Guichen”.

His two children Ian “Rocky” and Heather (later Mrs Carthew) also enlisted during World War II with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Their descendants took an active part in the service along and there were traditional Remembrance Day observances like the poem “In Flanders Fields”.

Meanwhile, in a poignant gesture, the poppies sourced from seeds from Flanders are now in full bloom at the Rendelsham War Memorial.