Tag: Remembrance Sunday

A very different Remembrance Sunday

First Minister to lay wreath at national service in Edinburgh

The National Service of Remembrance to commemorate the sacrifices of the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts will go ahead, but will be closed to the public due to ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

The service has been significantly scaled back, in line with events across the country, to protect public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that public gatherings are known to increase the spread of the virus.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will attend the service on Sunday 8 November at the Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle to pay respects on behalf of the people of Scotland.

The First Minister will give a reading and lay a wreath alongside representatives of the Armed Forces and faith organisations.

Unfortunately, due to the restrictions to manage the pandemic, local remembrance events will not be able to proceed as they have in previous years.

Instead, those who want to honour the fallen are able to do so in the following ways:

  • joining the two-minute silence at 11.00 on Sunday 8 November from their doorstep as part of their community
  • by invite to a service at a place of worship with numbers strictly limited by organisers
  • giving to the Scottish Poppy Appeal to support the important work it does with the Armed Forces community across Scotland

Scottish Government buildings St Andrews House and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh will be floodlit red on Sunday 8 November in support of the Scottish Poppy Appeal.

Veterans Minister Graeme Dey said: “Remembrance Sunday is an opportunity for people in Scotland to join with others across the world to commemorate the enormous sacrifices of the two World Wars and other conflicts, but the pandemic has made that much more difficult this year.

“We understand it will be disappointing to many people that national services will not be open to the public, however, due to the risk of public gatherings spreading the virus and endangering lives, we would encourage those who want to pay their respects to do so safely in other ways.

“It is vitally important that all of us abide by the restrictions to help save lives and protect the NHS as we are remembering the incredible sacrifice that so many have made.”

Dr Claire Armstrong, chief executive of Legion Scotland, said: “It is deeply disappointing that remembrance events are being impacted in this way given their importance to so many people, but maintaining public safety is paramount.

“However, we can and must take time as a nation to observe the two-minute silence safely, and ensure we come together in spirit to pay our respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Updated COVID-19 guidance for Remembrance 2020 has now been issued to all local authorities.

Scotland remembers

The Rt Hon Lord Provost and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh Frank Ross joined First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and senior military personnel,  members of the wider Armed Forces community and members of the emergency services for the official wreath-laying ceremony at the Stone of Remembrance yesterday.  Continue reading Scotland remembers

Let It End

In the trenches I must wait,

To meet a very likely fate.

Soldiers here are used like bait.

Oh how this world is filled with hate.

“Bang, bang, bang,” guns fire overhead.

Covering the ground with bodies of the dead.

Stinking, squelching mud slows us down,

“Gas!” someone cries, but masks can’t be found.

I need to run or steal a mask,

But this is never an easy task.

“Do you have a mask? there’s none in my bag!”

My heart lurches at the reply, “Guten tag!”

BANG – a gun shot through my heart that I yield

Now I join the dead in Flanders Fields

I’ve served my country, but at what cost?

Hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

I watch the war from the land of the dead

As more violence and fighting and blood is shed.

Please can we put an end to this story?

No more Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori.

 

Lewis Horton

Craigroyston Community High School

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Robert Laurence Binyon

German President to lay wreath at Cenotaph Service

The German President will attend the Remembrance Sunday Service in historic act of reconcilliation

  • President Steinmeier will attend Remembrance Sunday Service in an historic act of reconciliation to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War
  • He will become the first German leader to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph ceremony before later attending a service at Westminster Abbey

Continue reading German President to lay wreath at Cenotaph Service

Granton Community Act Of Remembrance – 11th November

Every year Granton Parish Church holds an Act of Remembrance for the community to remember people from the area who fell in the First and Second World Wars, who have served with our Armed Forces or been involved in conflicts around the world – past and present. Continue reading Granton Community Act Of Remembrance – 11th November

Edinburgh sees red to support Poppy Appeal

edinburgh-castle-red

Some of Edinburgh’s most famous landmarks will be going the extra mile for the 2016 Scottish Poppy Appeal by lighting up red.

Edinburgh Castle, The Balmoral Hotel clock tower, the Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Airport, Jenners, EICC and the Government buildings at Victoria Quay and St Andrews House will all be turning the capital red in support of this year’s appeal.

They will be joined by many other iconic buildings and structures across the country in a bid to light up Scotland red and raise awareness for the annual fundraising campaign run by the leading charity Poppyscotland.

Gordon Michie, Head of Fundraising at Poppyscotland, said: “It’s fantastic to see Edinburgh lit up in poppy red once again for the Scottish Poppy Appeal, and we’ve been blown away by the community’s support.

“We hope that when people see Edinburgh glowing red over the Remembrance weekend they will think about the many ways they too can go the extra mile in their support for this year’s Poppy Appeal. Whether it’s putting a little bit more in the poppy tin, or doing something completely different to raise money, every penny helps us to offer life-changing support so we can be there when they call for backup.”

Lest We Forget

We will remember them

poppy-day

Captain Alfred ‘Bill’ Bland of the 22nd Battalion Manchester Regiment (7th Manchester Pals) wrote to his wife on 26 June 1916: 

It’s a marvellous war, with these thousands of miles of trench system. If only we can smash it all in, and get out in the open, the war might suddenly collapse this year. I am afraid this is too optimistic, though at the present time I am outwardly blatantly optimistic. The true English spirit of deliberate self-depression and self-deprecation has to be countered.

We are a most happy family, everybody doing his best to help everybody else, none of us expecting too much but all ready to do our part of the job, minimising the obstacles to the men, but considering them carefully enough in our thoughts and conversation.

By the time this reaches you, the sun out to be rising a fraction earlier upon us – a new vista, one hopes, fresh woods and pastures new, a slaughtered dragon, a monster laid low. Our Manchester lads are in good form today; burnt brown, eager and keen. I love ’em.

The Manchesters fought on the first day of the battle of the Somme on 1 July. Sgt R.H. Tawney saw Bland just before zero hour and wrote later: “My captain, a brave man and a good officer, came along and borrowed a spare watch from me. It was the last time I saw him.”

The 22nd Manchesters suffered almost 500 casualties that fateful day; eighteen officers and 472 other ranks killed, wounded or missing. The battalion ‘ceased to exist in any recognisable form’.

Captain Bland is buried in the Danzig Alley military cemetary, Mametz (below). His widow never remarried.

danzig alley