The 99-year-old Chatham Bell is returning to Medway this week - until the next time the Royal Navy needs it.

It has seen plenty of action, having been carried into the Dardanelles conflict on board a First World War cruiser.

The bell (pictured below) was also there when the most recent HMS Chatham fired the first rounds in the Gulf War that unseated Saddam Hussein.

The seventh HMS Chatham - a Type 22 frigate - was decommissioned in February after its crew paraded through Medway.

Now its Commanding Officer, Cdr Simon Huntington, is to return the bell to the Medway Towns for it to be kept - until the next HMS Chatham is commissioned.

The bell will be kept at the St George's Centre until another HMS Chatham ship is commissioned.

This former church for the Royal Navy Barracks, HMS Pembroke, is now a naval memorial centre.

The Mayor of Medway, Cllr David Brake, said it was an honour the bell had returned to Medway.

"I hope the bell will soon find its way onto the next HMS Chatham where this fine tradition can continue," he said.

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