WREN Vicky Gingell will be flying the flag for Portland when she joins HMS Portland at Plymouth next week.

A former pupil at the Royal Manor School, Vicky, 17, joined the Royal Navy a year ago to train as a communications technician and is currently stationed at HMS Collingwood at Gosport.

In a phone call to her parents, Steve and Liz Gingell of Easton, Vicky said: "I am so delighted to be one of the very first crew members of this new ship and particularly as it is HMS Portland - it will feel like home from home and will make me even more proud as I will be a Portlander on two counts."

Steve and Liz are very proud of their daughter, who is also one of 20 Wrens chosen to be present at the Royal British Legion Service of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday.

And she has been chosen to march in the parade to the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Sunday, where the new King of Jordan will be among the dignitaries.

Vicky has told her parents that in taking part in these prestigious events, the only disappointment is that the Queen Mother will not be present.

The eyes of her Portland family will certainly be glued to the television during each event, for Vicky has told them her exact position among the proud contingent of Wrens.

A FORMER Thomas Hardye School pupil will be among

servicemen taking part in the national Remembrance Day parade in London on Sunday.

Dorian Dando, 37, who grew up in Nottington, will be one of just two members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary taking part in the parade and service at the Cenotaph and other Remembrance Day activities at the Royal Albert Hall.

Mr Dando served in the Army for eight years and also worked at the air station at Portland before joining the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which supplies the Royal Navy.

He is currently in Portsmouth preparing for Sunday's parade.