The bells rang out from King's Lynn's historic St Nicholas Chapel, as capped and gowned graduates paraded proudly through the town centre.

West Norfolk's deputy mayor Trevor Manley, fellow dignitaries and academics led a 200-strong procession from the Town Hall on Saturday, through its packed shopping streets, to the chapel on the corner of St Ann's Street.

The now familiar spectacle, which is held each November, celebrates the annual graduation day at the nearby College of West Anglia.

In recent years the college has offered increasing numbers of degree and higher education courses, as well as vocational training, at its centres across West Norfolk and the Fens .

Some 186 students graduated from the college's campus on Lynn's Tennyson Avenue, after this past academic year.

They specialised in subjects as diverse as psychosocial studies to fine art, and from early childhood studies to history, sociology and business management.

St Nicholas Chapel's rows of stately wooden pews were packed with proud parents, partners and relatives, as the presentation of graduands' hard-earned scrolls and certificates got under way.

College of West Anglia principal David Pomfret and his guest of honour Prof Mike Thorne, Vice Chancellor of the Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge, made the awards, calling each student up by name.

'The college is very proud of your dedication and hard work and is delighted to be here today to celebrate with you,' Mr Pomfret told the degree congregation in his opening address.

'I would like to recognise the part played by college staff and our university colleagues in supporting you through your studies.'

The graduation ceremony was followed in the evening by a chance for former students, friends and families to let their hair down after completing their two or three year courses.

The college's graduation ball was thrown in the grand surroundings of King's Lynn's Corn Exchange.