SERVICES were held across the North-East yesterday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Pilots from the region were among The Few who held off the might of Hitler's Luftwaffe in 1940, and current and former airmen joined to remember the historic victory which saved Britain from invasion.

Before a service at York Minster there was a parade through the streets as nearby RAF Linton-on-Ouse celebrated its Freedom of the City, a right granted to them 32 years ago.

Led by the RASD Waddington Pipe and Drum Band, they marched from Clifford's Tower to the Minster, where their was a fly-past by four Tucano aircraft.

During the service there was the traditional "Turning of the Page" ceremony of the RAF Book of Remembrance, listing the names off air crew from the North-East and Yorkshire who failed to return from their missions.

In Stockton and Thornaby there services were also held to remember the dead.

The main focus of the day of commemoration was Westminster Abbey, London, where the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh joined Britain's war heroes at a thanksgiving service