It is 100 years since the first Remembrance Ceremony took place. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month was chosen to commemorate the Armistice following the First World War the year before.
King George V introduced the idea of a two minute silence:
“It is my desire and hope that there may be … a complete suspension of all our normal activities. During that time, except in the rare cases where this may be impracticable, all work, all sound, and all locomotion should cease, so that in perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead.”
Thursday 7 November – the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance takes place in St Mary’s Church at 7 pm. It is likely to be very well attended and you are advised to arrive in good time to secure a seat.
Sunday 10 November Remembrance Sunday event at the Cenotaph 10.45 for 11 am
And on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month …
Monday 11 November – Civic Remembrance Ceremony at the Cenotaph.
This will be followed at 11.30 am by a Ceremony at the Cooper Gallery, in which students from Horizon Community College read out loud all of the names of the 76 Old Boys of Barnsley Holgate Grammar School who died in the First World War, continuing the tradition initiated by Holgate Grammar School in 1919. [More information]
All of these events are open to anyone interested to attend.
Many other Remembrance events are taking place in communities across the borough.
