HUNDREDS of poppies are to be scattered on the sea at Redcar in a poignant tribute.

A crew member on the Redcar lifeboat will throw the tributes on to the water, close into Redcar seafront, at the height of a veterans' parade, on Sunday.

September 3 is Britain's first official Merchant Navy Day and will be marked by a parade through London.

A procession will leave Redcar RAFA club at 10.15am. With 22 standards expected and at least 100 pensioners, organiser Derek Shorter believes the Teesside tribute will rival the London march.

The poppies scattered on Sunday morning's half tide will be in memory of the hundreds of North-East merchant seamen, among the thousands who went off to sea and never came home.

The floral tribute will not only commemorate the crews of wartime convoys - such as convoy PQ17 that lost 80 ships, sunk by enemy action - but also lifeboatmen and fishermen who have lost their lives.

Ex merchant seamen from South Shields will join colleagues from Hartlepool and Teesside in the parade, organised by the Dormanstown and Redcar branch of the Merchant Navy Association.

Mr Shorter urges local people to attend a thanksgiving service at Zetland lifeboat museum, Redcar, at 10.45am.

He said: "We are asking the communities of Redcar and the surrounding areas to join us and honour the memory of the British merchant navy."

Referring to massive lay offs in the service and modern changes, Mr Shorter said: "This country will never again see these great ships or brave seamen, but we can at least remember and honour them, which is why September 3 is so important to us all.

"It is not only for merchant seamen but also the Maritime Royal Artillery, Dems gunners who manned the guns of merchant vessels, which at least gave us some degree of protection, the RNLI, which seamen depend on, and fishermen who carry out a vital service for the community.