A WEEKEND of tributes to Lord Nelson, his officers and crews marking the 200th anniversary of victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was rounded off in spectacular style yesterday with a parade through the streets of Worcester.

Nearly 300 former Naval servicemen and women, sea cadets, members of the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, the Royal Grenadier Guards and Royal British Legion were led by Tenbury Wells Band from Bank Street to the Cathedral.

There, they listened to a commemorative service led by the Archdeacon, the Venerable Joy Tetley, and a delivery of Nelson's Prayer on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar, before returning to the Guildhall where Commander Jamie Miller, the naval regional officer for Western England, took the salute.

Crowds of onlookers lined the streets, including proud parents Heather and Adrian Homer from St Peter's whose 10-year-old son Adam was marching with Worcester Sea Cadets.

"It's a wonderful occasion and fantastic for Adam to be a part of history," Mr Homer said.

"For him to be here with so many Royal Navy veterans is a real honour."

Other events around the county at the weekend included a mass and thanksgiving service at Old St Martin's Church in the Cornmarket, a community service at St Andrew's Church in Droitwich, a celebration lunch for the Worcestershire Association of Wrens at St Andrew's Hotel in Droitwich and a Trafalgar Day dinner hosted by former Worcester city mayor David Clark in the King Charles restaurant in Worcester and another dinner organised by the Malvern Hills Community Foundation.

Beacons were also lit in Upton Snodsbury and Droitwich on Friday night as part of a national event that saw fires spring up across the country - the first being lit by the Queen in Portsmouth, mimicking the scene 200 years ago when victory fires were used to spread the news.

Droitwich Mayor Coun Richard Morris said people turned up to the beacon lighting at the town's highest point, St Augustine's Church.

"It was very bright and could be seen from quite some distance away," he said.

"It was great to be able to mark such an historic occasion along with thousands of others around the country."