Lest We Forget: More than 1,500 people join Hillmorton’s Remembrance service

More than 1,500 people took part in Hillmorton’s Remembrance Sunday service on Sunday (November 8).

It was led by the Rev Helen Merrigan on the theme ‘Service in a changing World’.

On a misty morning, people gathered on the village greens.

Veterans wore their service berets and medals, while some participants wore medals earned by their fathers and grandfathers.

Everyone waited silently for the drumbeats signalling the start of the parade and service.

The Brass Band of Central England led the parade, with Major Tom Morgan of the Royal Tank Regiment as Parade Commander.

Behind the Union Flag and standards, veterans and contingents from local community groups, youth organisations and children from Hillmorton Primary and St Gabriels’s CofE Academy marched towards the War Memorial with their heads held high. In her address,

Rev Merrigan reminded everyone that ‘service’ has many meanings beyond the military and that everyone can serve their community in many ways.

A Scout from the 22nd Hillmorton Troop laid the Lamp of Peace.

Andrew Was, of Hillmorton RBL reminded everyone of the significance of the poppies.

After the wreaths and poppies covered the memorial, the silence was filled with the skirl of the bagpipes, as Piper Hugh Deery played a lament, a reminder that the bagpipes had led so many troops into battle,

As the Parade marched off, Andrew Day, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, received the salute.

As one couple in the crowd remarked: “The Remembrance Service was brilliant.

“There was a real community feel about it, we weren’t observers, we were part of it.”

On a rainy Armistice Day on 11th November, a small crowd gathered for a short service to honour the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the service of the country.

After the Last Post and Reveille, pupils from English Martyr’s RC Primary laid a wreath in remembrance.

Thanks to photographer Kevin Nepip-Frankis. Video: Julie Smith.