Celebrating a great and glorious day (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Celebrating a great and glorious day

CHURCH bells pealed, beacons were lit and rockets burst into a razzle-dazzle of fireworks, as communities across the region celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar on Friday.

Trafalgar Park, the estate between Downton and Alderbury renamed after Nelson's great victory and given to his descendants by a grateful nation, hosted a glittering evening of opera and fine food, as 200 guests including Dame Norma Major, Lord and Lady Chichester, Wiltshire's Chief Constable Martin Richards and Salisbury MP Robert Key, attended a charity dinner given by estate owner Michael Wade.

Charities to benefit included the Community Foundation for Wiltshire and Swindon, Salisbury Hospice, the Harnham Meadows Trust and the Wiltshire Bobby Van.

Salisbury Hospice was also the beneficiary of another Trafalgar Dinner - this time at the Guildhall, in Salisbury, where guests drank grog and joined in the traditional loyal toast to the Immortal Memory.

At Antrobus House, in Amesbury, guests attending a Trafalgar Day dinner in aid of the RNLI listened as a message from the Queen was read out by RNLI Stonehenge branch chairman Nigel Estlick.

The Queen thanked the branch for its loyal greetings and sent "my best wishes to you all for a successful and enjoyable evening during this most special anniversary year".

The dinner was hosted by Amesbury mayor John Noeken, and the guest of honour was the Reverend Nigel O'Connor, of Allington, whose great-great-grandfather, William Gibbs, served on HMS Victory as a midshipman at Trafalgar.

Amesbury itself celebrated the anniversary with bonfire lighting and a firework display.

Among those in attendance were the Herring family, descendants of a naval captain who served with Nelson in his early seafaring days.

Three cheers rang out and the bells of St Laurence's Church pealed in Downton, as Peter Waddington lit the village's Millennium Beacon, this time to mark Trafalgar Day.

Many of those assembled then made their way to the White Horse for a Trafalgar Day charity dinner.

The beacon at Downton was one of a series lit across the country, including one at Damerham.

Earlier in the day, tots from York Nursery had had fun as Nelson (played by Colin Russell) had thrown chocolate money to them from the bay window above the Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop in Queen Street, Salisbury.

This was a re-enactment of the occasion when Nelson visited Salisbury in 1800 to receive the Freedom of the City and distributed largesse to the crowds from the house of Alderman Goddard, thought to have lived in this house in the Market Square.