Remembrance Sunday

In the United Kingdom, Remembrance Sunday is the nearest Sunday to 11th November and it is linked with Armistice Day and Remembrance Day which fall on that date.

On the eve of Remembrance Sunday the is the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance and the day is also associated with Poppy Day.

Remembrance Sunday is the day on which the United Kingdom commemorates the fallen of World Wars I and II, and the other conflicts which have occurred since 1945, including the wars in Korea, the Falklands, the two Gulf Wars, the conflicts in the Balkans and Afghanistan and those areas where British (and Commonwealth troops) in particular have been engaged.

Ceremonies are held across the United Kingdom in villages, towns and cities at local War Memorials and in Churches. Many indoor church services are cancelled for a joint inter-denominational outdoor service.

Most ceremonies are attended by local dignitaries, ex-servicemen and women (especially those who are members of the Royal British Legion), youth organisations such as the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, military cadet forces, the police, fire and ambulance services and representatives of any local Armed Forces regiments with an association with the locality.

The service usually involves a short parade, the laying of wreaths and a formal Service of Remembrance which includes prayers and, in many cases, hymns.

At 11.00am on Remembrance Sunday a two minutes silence is observed. (The silence, whilst an integral part of the ceremony, is also often observed in places away from the formal ceremony, for example in supermarkets and before the start of football matches.)

The National ceremony is held in Whitehall, London with the Cenotaph as the focus of attention. It has been televised annually since 1946 by the BBC and has been broadcast on the radio for even longer.

At the Cenotaph the commemoration is led by HM Queen Elizabeth II who lays a wreath on behalf of the Nation. Other wreaths are normally laid by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; Princess Anne, the Princess Royal; Prince Edward, Duke of Kent; the Prime Minister; the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition; other Political Leaders; the Foreign Secretary; representatives of the Army, Navy, Royal Air Force, Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets; representatives of the Civilian services (Fire, Police and Ambulance services etc); and Commonwealth High Commissioners.

Members of the Royal Family not involved in the actual ceremony watch from the Balcony of the Foreign Office, which overlooks the Cenotaph.

The 2 minute silence is marked by the firing of a field gun on Horse Guards Parade to both commence and end the silence, which is followed by buglers of the Royal Marines playing The Last Post.

The religious service is inter-denominational with representatives from all religions and churches in attendance. The event is marked by the recitation of the fifth verse of Laurence Binyon’s "For the Fallen":

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

The whole event is marked by the playing of music by military bands, with Sir Edward Elgar’s "Nimrod Variations" and Thomas Arne’s music to James Thompson’s poem "Rule Britannia" being prominent.

Following the formal ceremony, there is a march past of ex-servicemen and women who pass thousands of wreaths to attendants to be laid at the foot of the Cenotaph.

Regrettably, the Remembrance Sunday service in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland in 1987 was marred when the Provisional IRA exploded a bomb which killed 11 and injured 63 people, some seriously.

If you're looking for a way to commemorate this event, you might be interested in this article: Commemorations with Cross Stitch

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