Sawbridgeworth's Remembrance Sunday went ahead without public participation – but there was a live streaming of the 9.30am morning service from Great St Mary's church and a video listing the names from the town's memorial.

Wreaths were laid at the war memorial in the churchyard off Church Road on Sunday by town mayor Cllr Annelise Furnace and retiring town clerk Richard Bowran.

Safer Neighbourhood Team PC Shelley Marshall and Insp Chris Hunt also laid wreaths at the memorial, and children laid stones with poppies painted on them at the entrance to the churchyard where a silhouette of a soldier stands.

New vicar of Great St Mary's, Father Simon Vivian, recorded a video of a reflection on remembrance in which he revealed wreaths would be laid over the days leading up to Armistice Day on Wednesday (November 11).

He said they would be laid "without fanfare this year, quietly as individuals representing the thoughts of so many of us for those who have lost their lives in war and conflicts over the many years and to acknowledge the incredible sacrifice so many, both those killed and injured, have made for this country of ours".

Fr Simon mentioned the US elections and added that over the years "humanity had failed to live in harmony" and that we were "too slow to notice the goodness to be found all around us".

He concluded: "As well as remembering, perhaps we can be inspired to live our lives, not for regret for what might have been, but in the here and now, trying with faith in God, to live with a clear-sighted ambition for a better and more harmonious world".

The videos of the Great St Mary's service, list of names from the memorial and Fr Simon's reflection can be viewed via the Sawbridgeworth Town Council website www.sawbridgeworth-tc.gov.uk.

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