Updated: Remembrance Services And Special Events Marking Centenary Of The End Of The Great War

Published on: 5 Nov, 2018
Updated on: 7 Nov, 2018

Thursday, November 8:

Send: Installation on the railings of Send Recreation Ground and elsewhere in the village of a display containing almost 6,000 fabric poppies made by the local community.

Saturday, November 10:

The village of Wonersh is marking the centenary of the end of the First World War with a packed programme of displays and events.

The free event is from 10am to 4pm and commemorations will be held in Wonersh Memorial Hall (main exhibition), St John the Baptist Parish Church, United Reformed Church, Wonersh Scout Hut, Wonersh Bowling Club and St John’s Seminary.

Click here for more details.

There will be biographies of local men who fell in both world wars, films and talks, children’s church trails, clothing of the time, scouting and guiding through the years, a display created by children from Wonersh and Shamley Green Schools, displays of material from Wonersh History Society, Blackheath Village Society, Shamley Green History Society, and other archives.

Charlotteville, Guildford: There will be a remembrance service at 3pm at the war memorial in front of Addison Court, Addison Road, in particular acknowledging the 25 men who died during the First World War.

Afterwards, refreshments will be served in the Addison Court lounge where there will be a display with stories of the local community and the men who served in the wars. All welcome.

In addition, there will be a self-guided 1914-1918 Charlotteville Heritage Trail with posters in Addison, Cline and Cooper Roads. Learn of the 100 men who served in the military and the women and men who enlisted in the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments.  Learn about old Charlotteville, its eight shops, pub, St Luke’s Church and Institute and laundries – all now gone.

For further information on the Charlotteville War Memorial see website: http://www.tinyurl.com/charlottevillememorial

G Live, Guildford: Film group Circle Eight presents another showing of its documentary feature Guildford in the First World War at at 3pm. Free to see.

First produced in 2014, the film shows how the many everyday aspects of life in the town changed as Guildford was placed on a war footing between August 1914 and November 2018. The film also pays tribute to the men from Guildford who enlisted for active service never to return to their home town. 

Other wartime events featured in the film include the Zeppelin raid on Guildford in October 1915, the care of wounded soldiers at Clandon Park and the Guildford Military Hospital, the manufacture of shells and munitions by Dennis Brothers, Drummond Brothers and other Guildford-based industries and the inevitable food shortages and rationing. 

G Live, Guildford: Vivace Chorus presents Concert for Peace – a moving and uplifting tribute to all those from Guildford and the surrounding area who gave their life in the Great War and in all conflicts since.

The concert starts at 7.30pm, and the chorus will be joined by the Friary Brass Band, and narrators Dame Penelope Keith and the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Michael More-Molyneux.

Music includes Elgar’s Nimrod, selections from Holst’s The Planets, and Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man, a medley of Great War troop songs, You’ll Never Walk Alone and much more.

With involvement from the Royal British Legion, local cadet corps, drummers and buglers, plus a colour parade and a retiring collection for the Royal British Legion, this concert is all about thanking and remembering those who gave and still give so much for our freedom.

Tickets are £10 for under 18s and for serving military personnel and £20 for general sales. There will also be a range of events in the foyer in the afternoon.

Guildford Cathedral: 10am to 1pm, the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey and others will be abseiling from the cathedral tower raising funds for the Royal British Legion.

11am to 4pm, World War One Re-Enactors. Interact with various ranking officers from the First World War, in uniform, as they tell you what life was like in the war.  Try on helmets and look at items from the war. There will also be authentic wartime military vehicles.

1pm to 3pm, first year Guildford School of Acting students will perform pieces of blended war poetry and music.

3pm, watch members of the Poppy Parachute Display Team fall from the sky and land on the cathedral green (weather permitting).

5pm, Evensong for Remembrance concludes with the exterior of the cathedral being illuminated by a falling poppy display, from 6pm to 10.30pm.

7pm, poppy dinner fundraising for the Royal British Legion. Diana North will sing songs from the First World War and there will be an auction and raffle. Tickets from https://www.guildford-cathedral.org/events/boxoffice/298

Send: A wooden poppy cross will be “planted” close to the war memorial on Send Recreation Ground for each of the 21 Send residents who died in action during the First World War. 11am.

Sunday, November 11: 

Ash: Councillors, uniformed and voluntary organisations, including U3A, will assemble at the Ash Centre car park by 10.15am to parade to the Ash War Memorial at 10.30am. The service of remembrance will be led by the local clergy and music will be provided by the North East Hampshire Area School Band. Pupils from Ash Manor School will read aloud the names of the fallen between November 1917 and November 1918 who are remembered on the war memorial. Following the service everyone will parade back to the Ash Centre for dismissal. Tea and coffee provided by the Mothers’ Union will be available in the Ash Centre following the parade dismissal, all welcome.

Guildford Cathedral: 6am, Battle’s O’er. 1,000 individual pipers across the UK and countries around the world commence the day’s commemorations with the traditional Scottish lament played at the end of battle. The Dean of Guildford and the Bishop of Guildford accompany the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, the Mayor of Guildford, the Chairman of Surrey County Council and the High Sheriff of Surrey, at the top of the tower of Guildford Cathedral, to witness this act of commemoration. Commander Matt O’Grady will read the First World War Tribute to the Millions. Others are welcome to gather in the crossing of the cathedral. Seasons Café will be open afterwards for all those wishing to buy a warming drink and breakfast.

10am, The County Service of Remembrance, culminating with a gun salute and two-minutes’ silence.

6.55pm, The Last Post. 1,000 individual buglers sound this historic tribute as beacons of light, at 7pm, are lit at locations across the nation and UK overseas territories.

7.05pm, Ringing out for Peace,1,000 cathedral and church bells ring out across the nation, and beyond, in celebration of peace.

7pm, 1,000 town criers throughout the UK and other countries around the world join together in an International Cry for Peace.

8pm, Britten’s War Requiem performed byGuildford Choral Society and the cathedral choir. Tickets available from www.guildfordchoral.org/events/concerts/

Guildford town centre: Annual service of remembrance at Holy Trinity Church and Castle Grounds, 9.45am.

Quakers Acre, North Street, Guildford: A wreath of white poppies will be laid at a simple alternative remembrance ceremony on Sunday, November 11, between 10.30am and 10.45am.

Send: Parade at 2.30pm from Send Recreation Ground in the presence of the Mayor of Guildford along Send Road to the Lancaster Hall for a 3pm remembrance service and laying of wreaths. Last Post will be sounded at 3.45pm.

Worplesdon: Service of remembrance at Harry’s Meadow, Jacobs Well, 10.45am (behind the village hall).

A 1914 Dennis fire engine will be at the Armistice Day event on Sunday morning. The fire engine will be parked in the Jacobs Well Village Hall car park during the event. Alexander Dennis will be collecting donations towards SAAFA (Soliders, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association) as they drive from Alexander Dennis, Slyfield, to Harry’s Meadow.

Local cubs and scouts will be processing over the field and assisting with the planting of 52 poppy crosses in memory of the men of Worplesdon who fell in the Great War.

The new commemorative First World War bench and bin will be unveiled during the morning service. Bagpipeer Kenneth Thomson will be performing at both events in Harry’s Meadow.

Wreaths will be laid by Alexander Dennis, the Jacobs Well Residents’ Association and Worplesdon Parish Council.

In the evening service Last Post will be played by Rachel Doyle of the Surrey Police Band and the First World War beacon will be lit as part of the Nation’s Tribute ‘A Battle’s Over’ commemorations.

The Mount, Guildford: World War One Beacons of Light at 7pm.

Monday, November 12:

The Keep pub, Castle Street, Guildford: 7.30pm. Local historian and writer David Rose will be giving a free illustrated talk titled Guildford and the Great War When Peace Came. It will focus on the food shortage crisis Guildfordians suffered, fund raising campaigns as the war came to an end, final casualties, Armistice Day, rioting Canadian troops and peace celebrations. Was it a land fir for heroes – not really! Plus a peek at what was to come in the difficult years of the 1920s, as well as stories of some of the fallen commemorated on Guildford’s war memorial from both world wars and the new memorial in the Castle Grounds.

The Guildford Dragon NEWS will be pleased to add further details of remembrance and First World War commemoration events. Email to drosedragon@gmail.com

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