Members of Bath and North East Somerset Council will be attending remembrance services on Sunday to pay tribute to those injured or killed in wars.
The Leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Tim Warren, and Chief Executive, Ashley Ayre, will join members of the Royal British Legion for a service of remembrance at Bath’s War Memorial at the entrance to Royal Victoria Park from 10.30 am. They will lay a wreath on behalf of the Council at the ceremony.
The Chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Councillor Alan Hale, will attend the Remembrance Parade and church service at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist in Keynsham, at 9 am. He will also attend the Radstock Remembrance Service from 2 pm.
Vice Chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Councillor Cherry Beath, will take part in the Midsomer Norton Remembrance Service at St John’s Church, High Street, Midsomer Norton, from 10.50 am.
Councillor Tim Warren and Councillor Martin Veal, Cabinet Member for Community Services, will be attending the Remembrance Service at Bath Abbey from 3 pm.
Councillor Alan Hale, Chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council, said: “It’s very important that we hold events to mark Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday to honour those who were killed or injured fighting for their country. Many suffered greatly and witnessed atrocities which most of us, thankfully, cannot relate to.
“This is an important time for the whole nation and the people of Bath and North East Somerset to remember those who gave their lives so gallantly and also to remember those who lost their lives in the Bath Blitz in 1942.”
The annual Remembrance Day service at Haycombe Cemetery will take place on Friday, 11th November from 10.45 am until 11 am.
Organised by Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Bereavement Services Team, the service will be held on the grassed area between the Cross of Sacrifice and the Blitz graves and will incorporate a two minute silence.The Mayor of Bath, Cllr Paul Crossley and Bath MP, Ben Howlett, will read poems from the First World War at a special commemoration which will take place in St Michael’s Church in the centre of Bath on Saturday evening, November 19th. This Act of Remembrance recognises the conclusion of the Battle of the Somme on November 18th 1916. When the offensive was halted, after the Battle of the Ancre, more than one million British Empire, French and German servicemen had been wounded, captured or killed. Men from every part of Britain fought as part of the British army. The service has been organised by Grenville Jones as a mark of respect for his own grandfather, Lance Corporal William Henry Jones, who served in the West Yorkshire Regiment and died in the early days of the battle aged 24. The ceremony will be led by Rev. Ken Madden, who also has a close interest in the history of World War One. Admission is free and the ceremony takes place from 6 pm until 7 pm. Grenville explains: “This short ceremony is for everyone whose family was effected by the Battle of the Somme, 100 years ago. There will be a retiring collection for the work of the Royal British Legion.” There will be performances by the City of Bath Male Choir led by Grenville, their founder conductor. On Frida, November 11th, Bath Male Choir travel to Belgium and on Remembrance Sunday, November 13th, have been invited to perform at the Menin Gate Ypres at the Last Post Ceremony.