A SPECIAL Holocaust memorial service will be held at Harwich’s Kindertransport memorial every year, it has been announced.

Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated every year on January 27 to honour the six million victims of the Holocaust.

The date is the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.

Following the unveiling of the Kindertransport memorial at Harwich Quay last year, Harwich Town Council decided the site would be a fitting focal point for Holocaust Memorial Day.

The ceremony saw candles and floral tributes placed at the memorial to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and there was also a minute’s silence and a short poem read by a member of the local Jewish community.

Harwich Town Council this week approved a plan to host the event on an annual basis.

Town councillor Garry Calver said: "Through the wonderful new Kindertransport memorial, Harwich now has the perfect place to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.

"Harwich's role in Kindertransport is well documented and it's important that we now use this memorial to ensure that the message is never forgotten."

Harwich was the point of entry for most of the 10,000 children rescued from Nazi occupied Europe as part of the Kindertransport project, starting in 1938.

Some continued their journey to London, while others spent a freezing winter at a holiday camp in Dovercourt Bay.