Manchester turned out in full force yesterday to commemorate the fallen heroes who lost their lives in armed conflict.
Thousands of people gathered around the city to pay their respects to servicemen and women and lay wreaths in honour of the sacrifices they have made.
Greater Manchester Police led a special Remembrance Day parade with representatives from the Navy, Army, Air Force, Royal British Legion, Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, Reserve Forces and 207 Field Hospital followed by a service at St. Peter’s Square.
Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Sue Cooley said: “Remembrance Sunday gives us time to reflect on past and present conflicts and is a chance for us all to express our respect for the men and women who have given their lives in the fight for freedom.
“2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War One and rightly our thoughts will turn to all those who lost their lives or were affected by one of the worst conflicts the world has ever seen.”
Manchester’s Remembrance Sunday parade, to the new home of the city’s Cenotaph, begins. https://t.co/j6tdq5pDxw
— Rob Smith (@robsmithitv) November 9, 2014
A smaller and more intimate service took place at St. Mary’s Church in Bowdon.
Representatives from the Royal British Legion, civic leaders and uniformed organisations came together with people from the community to reflect on how the wars affected every inch of the UK, including villages and towns like Bowdon and Altrincham.
A service was also held in the church followed by the laying of the wreaths at St. Mary’s Cenotaph.
The Reverend Roger Preece told MM: “This is a very important service for our whole community. It is a chance to bring together young people and old, scouts, guides, brownies, with representatives from our local pubs, and the civic leaders.
“The idea of having civic leadership and communities all coming together to remember is a very, very powerful ceremony and very moving.
“I saw two older people come to church today clutching photographs of their grandparents in military uniform when they were in the first and Second World War. My own great uncle died in the early stages of the First World War and so for all of us it’s powerful.”
The First World War, dated 1914 – 1918 took the lives of over 700,000 soldiers from the UK and around 17million soldiers and civilians killed across the rest of the world, making it one of the bloodiest wars in history.
The war officially ended on the eleventh hour on the eleventh day on the eleventh month, 1918, Armistice Day.
St Mary’s in Bowdon will be holding an act of Remembrance on Tuesday November 11th at St. Mary’s Cenotaph at 11am.
Manchester Cathedral will be holding a Manchester Regiment Remembrance Service from 10:45am.
Image courtesy of Stuart Grout, with thanks.
