COMMUNITIES in Dorset fell silent to mark Armistice Day.

Brief services were held at war memorials while the two minutes' silence was marked in homes, schools and at local firms to remember those killed in conflicts since the beginning of the First World War.

There was also a wreath-laying ceremony at County Hall in Dorchester, while a flag bearer from the Royal British Legion attended IPACA's Osprey Quay campus on Portland for a special assembly.

In London, the widow and son of murdered soldier Lee Rigby laid wreaths in Woolwich while veterans and their families joined serving military personnel at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

Also yesterday, 19 British veterans were presented with the Legion d'honneur, France's highest distinction, for their role in liberating France during the Second World War.

Recipients included Andrew Henderson, 93, from West Moors in east Dorset who received his medal alongside two other veterans at Sherborne Abbey.

The 2015 Poppy Appeal is dedicated to the memory of the fallen and the future of the living and chairman of the Weymouth branch of the Royal British Legion Naomi Turner said this year's campaign had been very well supported.

Mrs Turner attended the Armistice Day ceremony at the war memorial on Weymouth Esplanade and she estimated more than 100 people attended.

It was a brief, reflective and personal service compared to the ceremony and parade held on Remembrance Sunday, Mrs Turner said.

As well as those attending, a number of people passing on the seafront stopped to observe the two minutes' silence.

Meanwhile, cadets raise vital funds for the Poppy Appeal with street collections.

Cadets from Budmouth College's Combined Cadet Force were out and about on the streets on Weymouth town centre in the weekend's leading up to Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day.

The groups were selling poppies to aid the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.