A SERVICE will be taking place in Clacton later this month to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.

Joining in with national events Tendring Council chairman Peter Harris will join members of the Colchester and District Jewish Community at the Sunken Rose Garden on Marine Parade West.

The ceremony will take place on Friday, January 27, at 11am and will commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, which has been marked every year since 2001.

The council planted a commemorative white rose bush in the seafront gardens in 2007 with a special plaque set next to it the following year.

Harvey Newman, a member of the Colchester and District Jewish Community, will lead the service.

Mr Harris is inviting residents to join the service and to reflect upon the lessons of the Holocaust.

“This ceremony allows us the time to think about all those who lost their lives, and those who survived but had to live with the trauma of those terrible events,” he said.

“Previously we have had representatives from many different religious groups come to pay their respects, and I hope this year will be no exception.”

Harwich played a key role in the Kindertransport as the first stop for most of the 10,000 predominantly Jewish children rescued from Europe shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War – and a memorial to this was unveiled on The Quay last year.