A NEW flag was paraded in Bere Alston and Bere Ferrers last week at the annual service to commemorate the ten New Zealand soldiers who died in a train accident at Bere Ferrers Station in 1917.

Last Friday marked the 91st year the Royal British Legion local service committee for Bere Alston has held the memorial service, in which the New Zealand standard is taken down and paraded.

Peter York, chairman of the committee, said: 'We were given the New Zealand flag in the 80s in memory of the train accident. We've been marching the New Zealand standard since then but the flag was a bit past its sell-by date.

'We wrote to New Zealand House and they sent us a new flag. It was a very good day, everyone commented that it was a lovely ceremony and we had a lovely buffet afterwards.'

The service took place at 3.53pm on September 24, the exact time the accident happened in 1917.