A Nationwide Response

In Newcastle, £5,000 has been donated to St Oswald's Hospice to create a new nursing post, which may be named the "Diana, Princess of Wales Nurse". Princess Diana visited the Hospice in December 1992 on the day her separation from Prince Charles was announced in the House of Commons. Grimsby Hospital may also be renamed after Diana who opened it in 1983.

Radio and television programmes have been broadcasting details of the special services being held in many cities and towns. Hundreds of people attended a remembrance service at Leicester Cathedral and in Yeovil, a lunchtime service was relayed to nearby shops via loudspeakers.

Thousands of office workers and shoppers, as well as children, gathered at Bristol Cathedral for a 40 minute commemoration and there have also been services in Canterbury and Warrington. Candlelight vigils are being held including one at Lincoln Cathedral.

Giant screens are relaying pictures of the funeral to mourners in and outside Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff. On Sunday an open-air service is being held for local people in the market place in Ripley in Derbyshire.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people are continuing to lay floral tributes outside town halls and churches. Florists in the East Midlands say they are running out of supplies. In Cambridge, a taxi firm is taking floral tributes left outside the city's Guildhall to London for local people who can't travel themselves. A Bolton-based bus company will also deliver a coach load of flowers.

Condolence books have been opened at town halls across the country. In the City Rooms in Leicester, the number of books has been increased from two to ten after five thousand people left their messages within six hours of the books being opened. In Derbyshire, council offices have been staying open later to allow more people to sign the books.

A retired police officer from Kirkby has travelled to London with a book of condolence full of messages from children. He is wearing full Highland costume and playing Amazing Grace on the bagpipes along the funeral route.

Couples who had planned to marry this Saturday, have, in many regions, been given the opportunity to cancel their wedding. At Staffordshire's Register Office couples will be able to postpone the services at no extra cost. But unless registrars hear otherwise, from the brides and grooms involved, fifty marriage ceremonies will take place as planned. At Newcastle Register Office, staff hope to hold a minute's silence along with the rest of the nation.

In many parts of the UK, people are finding other ways of marking the funeral. In Portsmouth a gun is being fired from Southsea Castle to signal one minute's silence. No planes will take off or land at Jersey, Guernsey and Exeter airports while a two-minute silence is observed and the harbour master at Carrick in Cornwall is asking people not to bathe or surf at local beaches before 2pm.

In Southampton, all city buses will stop for one minute at 11am. Many public libraries are also expected to close. On Saturday evening, a series of beacons and bonfires will be lit across the West Country.

Some tributes have been particularly personal. A Colchester man has tattooed a fourteen inch image of the Princess of Wales onto his leg.