Lawley and Overdale Parish Council invites you to join us this Remembrance Sunday for our Community Act of Remembrance, where we will honour the heroes of past and present who gave their lives in service to their country.
Remembrance Sunday was originally conceived to commemorate the end of World War One (WW1), a horrific conflict that cost the lives of more than 950,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and its colonies, and up to an estimated 23 million deaths globally. It fell on Armistice Day, 11 November, to mark the date when the first armistice was signed between the Allied and Central powers.
WW1 was dubbed “the War to End all Wars”, but unfortunately it was anything but.
21 years after the end of WW1, World War Two (WW2) began. Almost 400,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom and its colonies gave their lives in this devastating conflict, with the total global death toll estimated to be as high as up to 85 million.
In the wake of WW2, it was decided that Remembrance Sunday would fall on the second Sunday of November, in commemoration of both World Wars.
Today, Remembrance Sunday honours the memories of not just those heroes, but the many heroes of all subsequent conflicts. It is a time to remember their service and sacrifice, and to remind ourselves of the horrors of war.
Lawley and Overdale Parish Council’s Community Act of Remembrance will be held from 10:45am on 12 November 2023, at the Lawley War Memorial.
This year’s proposed programme is as follows:
- Welcome and introduction, by Reverend Laura Lenander
- Words of reflection, by Reverend Laura Lenander
- The Exhortation for the fallen
- The Last Post, played by Ivor Evans
- Two minutes silence
- The Reveille, played by Ivor Evans
- Laying of wreaths
- Amazing Grace
- Prayers and time for reflection, by Reverend Laura Lenander
- The Kohima Epitaph
- Closing words, by Reverend Laura Lenander
You can download the full programme below.
Anybody who wishes to lay their own wreaths will be welcome to do so after the service, although we would ask you to source wreaths yourselves.
We hope to see many of you join us in this Community Act of Remembrance.