Wartime paras celebrated at Somerby and Burrough

A busy weekend in both villages began on Friday evening with a talk given by Jeremy Heygate, held at All Saints' Church, Somerby.

Jeremy, a local resident and former pilot, brought to life the world of early aviation and the personalities who used to regularly visit the area in the first half of the 20th century, which included Edward and Mrs Simpson, the king who abdicated and his mistress.

Over 100 tickets were sold raising over £1,300 towards repairs and improvements at the church.

On Saturday, events moved to Somerby Memorial Hall were local resident, Davina Bates, gave a talk on her memories of the village in wartime before launching a new edition of local history book, ‘Somerby Remembered’.

In the afternoon, attention was focused on the site of the memorial to 10th battalion, the Parachute Regiment at Burrough-on-the-hill.

In addition to the service of remembrance organised by the Friends of the Tenth charity, a new memorial was unveiled to USAAF 315TCG, who flew the 10th battalion into Arnhem.

Sunday saw the traditional parade and church service at Somerby, organised by Leicestershire PRA.

Led by regimental pony, Pegasus, and the pipes and drums of the Seaforth Highlanders, the parade of veteran paratroopers marched in warm sunshine to the church for a service with the Bishop of Leicester.