By Harry Mottram: Bath marked Remembrance Sunday this weekend as veterans members of the Armed Forces, The Royal British Legion, council, community and faith leaders, together with the public, paid their respects to those who have lost their lives in wars and conflicts in service to their country.
These photos are from Bath & North East Somerset Council and show the ceremony in central Bath as the city marked a day of reflections and in some cases of grief at the loss of friends, family and colleagues in the past.
Councillor Sarah Moore, Chair of Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “On Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday it’s important that we join together to pay our respects to those who have served in the armed forces. It’s a time for us all to reflect and remember those who have put their lives at risk and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. I hope many people in our communities will join an event near them to mark the occasion.”
In Bath there is a particular edge to recollections of World War II due to the horrors of the “Baedeker raids” in April 1942 when hundreds of citizens died in German bombing raids that also affected other cities such as Exeter and Canterbury.
Remembrance Sunday began after the First World War when huge numbers of young men died in the war that encompassed not only the battlefields of north France and Belgium, but Palestine, Iraq and East Africa – with navel battles in the North Sea and the north and south Atlantic.
The Council published this list of ceremonies and services:
Ceremonies and Services in Bath
Thursday 2 November – Monday 20 November
- Abbey Churchyard, Bath – Field of Remembrance will be brought into the churchyard to remember fallen servicemen and women.
Sunday 5 November
- Abbey Churchyard, Bath – 2:00pm: Dedication of the Field of Remembrance attended by the Royal British Legion and the Mayor of Bath, Councillor Dine Romero.
Saturday 11 November (Remembrance Day)
- Abbey Churchyard, Bath – 11:00am: Act of Remembrance with two-minute silence.
- Bathford – 8:30pm: Poppy Dance at the Village Club. Entry by donation to Poppy Appeal.
- Haycombe Cemetery, Bath – 10:45am: Remembrance Day Service including two-minute silence at 11am. Held on the grassed area between the Cross of Sacrifice and the Blitz graves within Haycombe Cemetery. Followed by refreshments.
- Holy Trinity Church, Combe Down – 10:00am: Remembrance Service. 11.00am: Bath Branch Grenadier Guards Association Wreath Laying Ceremony at the War Memorial, Firs Field, Combe Down. Deputy Mayor, Councillor Dr Bharat Pankhania, will lay a wreath.
- Royal Victoria Park War Memorial – 11:00am: Remembrance Service by the Rector of St Michael’s Church.
- Twerton War Memorial, High Street – 11:00am: Wreath Laying Ceremony.
Sunday 12 November (Remembrance Sunday)
- Bathford – 9.00am: Parade from Village Club, High Street to St. Swithun’s Church. Service at 10:00am.
- Royal Victoria Park War Memorial – 10:45am: Royal British Legion Wreath Laying Ceremony. 1:00pm: parade from Milsom Street to Abbey Churchyard before a service at Bath Abbey at 2.00pm.
- St Bartholomew’s Church – 11:00am: Wreath Laying Ceremony.
- Weston & Newbridge War Memorial – 11:00am – Wreath Laying Ceremony.
Ceremonies and Services in North East Somerset
- Bridges Electrical Engineers Ltd, Second Avenue, Westfield Trading Estate, Westfield – 10:45am: Annual Remembrance service.
Saturday 11 November (Remembrance Day)
- Paulton Cemetery – 11:00am: Dressing the Grave service.
- Peasedown St John, St John’s Churchyard – 11:00am: Dressing of the war graves.
- Westfield, Elm Tree Avenue memorial stone – 10:50am: Informal act of remembrance led by Revd. Ian Rousell. Coffee available before and after in the church hall.
Sunday 12 November (Remembrance Sunday)
- Keynsham, Ashton Way – 9:00am: Parade forms to march at 9:15am to St. John’s Church for a service until 10:30am when parade continues to park memorial gates. 11:15am: parade marches back to Ashton Way via Bath Hill. Refreshments afterwards at Royal British Legion. Attended by Council Chair, Cllr Sarah Moore.
- Midsomer Norton High Street – 10:40am: Parade from West Clewes Recreation Ground North Road/Radstock Road through the High Street, then on to St John’s Church at approximately 11:30am.
- Paulton War Memorial – 2:30pm: parade followed by a service at the memorial at 2.45pm.
- Peasedown St John, St John’s Church – 10:45am: Remembrance Service after a parade through the village beforehand. 3:00pm: Secular Remembrance event at Beacon Hall.
- Pensford War Memorial – 10:30am: Remembrance Sunday Parade Service with a 2-minute silence at 11:00am.
- Radstock War Memorial – 2:00pm: Remembrance wreath laying.
- Saltford – 9.30am: Saltford Scouts and Guides parade from Broadway to St. Mary’s Church, High Street. Service for members of parade only due to space limitations.10:45am: Parade from St Mary’s Church to Saltford War Memorial for wreath laying and the Last Post at 11am. 11:10: Parade from Saltford War Memorial to Broadway. Details here.
- Stanton Drew, War Memorial – 11:00am: Remembrance service after the church service. Tea and coffee afterwards in Stanton Drew Village Hall.
- Timsbury – 11:00am:Royal British Legion event at war memorial followed by a service in the church.
- Westfield, Elm Tree Avenue memorial stone – 10:55am: Formal act of remembrance led by Revd. David Winstanley.
- Whitchurch & Pensford Royal British Legion, Staunton Lane – 10:45am: wreath laying and service at the Memorial Garden.