A SERIES of events to remember those persecuted in the last century are being held in County Durham.

Holocaust Memorial Day, on Saturday, January 27, will be marked by a lecture and service at Elvet Methodist Church hall, Old Elvet, Durham City.

Paula Kitching, co-ordinator for holocaust and anti-racist projects at The Spiro Institute, London, will speak on child victims of genocide, at 6.30pm, followed by a service at 7.30pm, led by the Bishop of Jarrow, the Right Reverend Alan Smithson.

The service will include the Kol Hashirim choir and readings by representatives of Durham County Council and The Durham Light Infantry.

Soldiers from The DLI were among British troops who liberated the Belsen camp - where holocaust diarist Anne Frank died - in April, 1945. The story of the liberation will feature in an exhibition at County Hall, Durham, from January 23 to 31.

Alongside will be an exhibition by the county's schoolchildren commemorating the holocaust and an exhibition on the life of Anne Frank.

A holocaust memorial book can be signed at The DLI Museum, Aykley Heads, at the same time.

Meanwhile an exhibition about the Jewish way of life will run at Newcastle's Discovery Museum until February 11.