The streets of Maidstone resounded with military music this morning from the Parachute Regiment Band.

Behind them in the town's annual Civic Parade marched the 36 Engineer Regiment and the Queen's Gurkha Engineers exercising their Freedom of the Borough and the right to march through the town with fixed bayonets.

There were contingents of ex-servicemen - who got the loudest cheers - and police cadets, sea cadets and various civilian bodies.

Hundreds lined the streets to watch the spectacle which was to welcome the new Mayor of Maidstone, Marion Ring, into office.

The Mayor stood on a dais outside the Town Hall to take the parade salute and she was accompanied by Chief Supt Simon Wilson of Kent Police, Lt Col M.S. Jones who is the C.O. of 36 Engineer, Bill Cockcroft a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, the Honorary Recorder Judge David Griffth-Jones, and Alison Broom the council's chief executive.

When the parade had passed, the Mayor with her husband Richard Ring climbed aboard a horse-drawn open landau to journey to All Saints Church for a service led by the Rev Cannon Ian Parrish.

Her councillors followed on behind.

Some road closures were in operation during the parade, but all roads are now open again.