THOSE who served their country and gave their lives were remembered across the Forest over Remembrance weekend.

Services were held at war memorials across the district on Remembrance Sunday and silences were observed at sports fixtures on Saturday.

There were further ceremonies on Tuesday and wreaths from the Forest was sent to London as part of the Poppies to Paddington with Great Western Railway.

Lydney town councillor Carol Harris and Mel Rudge of the town’s British Legion branch placed it on a train.

At Cinderford on Sunday, Rev Mike Barnsley told the stories of three veterans: Joan Jones, Kenneth Davies and Tony Reid.

Mrs Jones was one of the last surviving members of Bomber Command in the Second World War.

Her job was to log the pilots of 76 Squadron who had returned from missions.

She served from 1939 to 1945 and died shortly before her 100th birthday.

Mr Davies served in Korea and Malaysia until contracted malaria and TB.

He later rejoined as a reservist where he became a sergeant at the castle in Monmouth.

Mr Reid joined the RAF as a teenager and served in Cyprus at the time of the struggle for independence in the 1950s before volunteering to be a guinea pig in what he was told were tests to find a cure for the common cold.

In fact volunteers were exposed to poisonous mustard gas.

He later wrote that if they had been told the real nature of the experiments, he would have volunteered anyway because he, and the other volunteers, wanted to serve their country.

Rev Barnsley described that as “an amazing statement.”

He added: “We remember Joan, Ken, Tony and his friends and all those who have risked or given their lives during or as a result of their service. “