ANOTHER ‘freedom parade’ will be held in Winchester today.

The Adjutant General’s Corps parade follows one held this summer by the King’s Royal Hussars in July and comes seven years after the regiment's last Freedom Parade in the city.

Around 150 troops and the Band and Bugles of the Rifles will march in a free show of ceremony and colour.

The right of ‘Freedom of Entry’ to the city is an ancient privilege and allows a regiment to parade with ‘bayonets fixed, drums beating and colours flying’.

It comes from a period in history when only trusted units would be allowed to carry arms within city boundaries.

The city council awarded Freedom of Entry to the former Royal Army Pay Corps in 1970.

The Pay Corps was amalgamated when the Adjutant General’s Corps was formed and the City Council formally transferred the honour to the new corps in 1996.

The event is in the morning with the troops and band ‘stepping off’ from Peninsula Barracks, marching down the High Street, forming up in the Broadway, moving off around the King Alfred statue, marching to the cathedral for a service and finally returning to the Guildhall for a civic reception.

The parade will be inspected outside the Guildhall by Winchester mayor, Cllr Angela Clear, and the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson.

Timings are:

10am, parade forms-up at Peninsula Barracks;

10.15am, parade steps off and turns right into Romsey Road, continues into Upper High Street, down the pedestrianised area;

10.25am, parade arrives in The Broadway and forms up for inspection;

10.45am, the parade moves off, around the King Alfred Statue and back past the Guildhall, turns left into Market Street and marches to the Cathedral for a service starting at 11.15am;

12.15pm, civic reception for invited guests at the Guildhall.

Some roads will be closed temporarily. Short closures will be necessary at crossing points while the parade passes by. The Broadway will be closed to traffic in the morning.

Parking bays will be suspended in the Broadway to allow the parade to take place and public parking will not be available in the Guildhall Yard until the afternoon.

Visitors are encouraged to use the city’s park-and-ride sites or alternative parking at the Chesil Street and Tower Street multi-storey car parks.

The city’s Saturday street market remains open for business.

It will move to Middle Brook Street to allow spectators room to view the parade.