Remembering The Fallen Exactly 100 Years After The First World War Armistice

Published on: 11 Nov, 2018
Updated on: 11 Nov, 2018

Hundreds of Guildford residents, probably double the normal number, assembled in the Castle Grounds today (November 11), the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, to remember the war dead.

Attendance was much larger than usual at this year’s centenary event.

A large contingents of veterans, territorials, cadets, scouts and others accompanied the civic delegation of various dignitaries and councillors led by the Mayor of Guildford, Mike Parsons, to fill the bowling green.

The parade pictured from Holy Trinity Church. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

It followed the annual service of remembrance at Holy Trinity Church and the parade down the High Street and up Tunsgate to the Castle Grounds.

The ceremony, led by Canon Robert Cotton, followed traditional lines, with hymns, prayers, the sounding of Last Post and a two-minute silence. However, following the recent installation of a new memorial to honour those killed in more recent conflicts, the parade, for the first time, faced the castle keep rather than the original memorial.

Veterans gather for the service of remembrance in the Castle Grounds. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

Cadets marching to the Castle Grounds. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

The service took place on the bowling green. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

A girl studies the poppy wreaths laid on Guildford’s war memorial 100 years on from the Armistice that ended the First World War.

Wreaths were also laid on the new additional war memorial, sited at the opposite end of the bowling green to the original memorial. This one commemorates service personnel killed while on active service since the Second World War. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

A number of veterans gathered in the Royal Oak pub afterwards. Picture by Sheila Atkinson.

Meanwhile, Worplesdon parish held its Armistice Day service in Harry’s Meadow, behind the village hall in Jacobs Well.

Unveiling of a commemorative bench in Harry’s Meadow, Jacobs Well.

The service featured the unveiling of a commemorative bench.

Worplesdon Parish Councillor Jan Messinger hands out the wooden crosses to beaver and cub scouts from Jacobs Well.

And to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War the 52 men from Worplesdon parish who gave their lives were remembered.

The 52 wooden crosses, one for each of the men from the parish of Worplesdon who died in the First World War.

Beavers and cub scouts from Jacobs Well planted a wooden cross for each one.

Piper Kenneth Thomson.

The service was led by the chairman of Worplesdon Parish Council, Dr Paul Craig, with piper Kenneth Thomson playing laments. About 80 people were present.

The service was not held at the usual site, the Lilly Bell II war memorial at the junction of Clay Lane and Queenhythe Road, this year, due to the unveiling of the bench, the laying of wooden crosses and with a expected large number of people. However, the names of the four US airmen who died when their aircraft crashed on October 25, 1944, were, us always, read out: Mercer W. Event, John R. Hillmer, John E. Wright and Dale E. Dellinger.

The clerk of Worplesdon Parish Council, Gaynor White, lays a wreath.

Wreaths were laid at the new commemorative bench by Worplesdon Parish Council, Jacobs Well Residents’ Association, and motor-vehicle maker Alexander Dennis (based nearby on the Slyfield Industrial Estate).

It owns one of the famous Dennis Brothers’ fire engines – an example dating to 1914, originally used by Coventry Corporation and given back to Dennis Bros in the 1950s for preservation. It continues to be lovingly looked after by staff at Alexander Dennis, the successor to Dennis Bros.

The 1914 Dennis Bros fire engine.

It was on view in the car park at the village hall as Alexander Dennis staff have been fundraising for the SAAFA charity (Soliders, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association), with £250 raised.

During the First World War Dennis Bros in Guildford made 7,000 three-ton lorries for the War Department, also supplying ambulances, fire engines and stationary pumping sets, as well as a large number of searchlight lorries. A total of 129 of the firm’s employees enlisted at the outbreak of the war, with the Army Service Corps taking 40 of the company’s best mechanics in just one day.