DORSET is to honour Roma and Sinti people who were persecuted during the Holocaust.

Kushti Bok, the Dorset based charity which acts as a voice for the Gypsies and Travellers of the county and beyond, will again be holding its annual Roma Holocaust Memorial Service, which will take place next Monday, August 3.

The service will be held at Dorchester's Kingston Maurward College - and in the lead up to the event, Dorset Council will fly the Romany and Gypsy flag over County Hall in Dorchester to commemorate those who suffered and lost their lives.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council will also fly the flag over its three town halls.

Betty Smith-Billington - who is chair of Kushti Bok, the Dorset Inter-Agency Concern for Travellers (DIACT) group, and the Dorset Gyspy and Traveller Forum - said: "This service is to honour and remember not only the 2897 Roma and Sinti women, children, the elderly and the infirm, that remained in the Gypsy camp and were annihilated in one day and night at Auschwitz-Birkenau on August 2 1944, but for all who suffered and died in the Holocaust.

"We at Kushti Bok are very proud that the Romany/Gypsy flag will be flying over Dorchester's County Hall and the three Town Halls of BCP council from July 31 to August 3."

For more information visit kushtibokdorset.co.uk