Remembrance 2022: Our guide to services and ceremonies in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire will fall silent to remember the fallen at 11am on November 11 - Armistice Day - and services and ceremonies will also be held across the county on Remembrance Sunday (November 13).
Here is our guide to what is happening:
Cambridge
Since most of the city council staff are not currently working from the Guildhall, the council is not planning a silence outside on November 11.
The mayor and deputy mayor of Cambridge will be representing the city at events to mark Remembrance Sunday this year.
On Sunday, November 13, shortly before 11am, the mayor, Cllr Mark Ashton, will be part of a procession from Station Road to the war memorial on Hills Road, where a wreath will be laid. Representatives of different organisations, including the armed forces and the Royal British Legion, will then take part in a commemorative service at the memorial.
At the same time, the deputy mayor, Cllr Jenny Gawthrope Wood, will join a procession to the county, city and University of Cambridge’s annual service of remembrance at Great St Mary’s Church. Both services will be paused at 11am for a two-minutes silence which will be observed across the country.
Cllr Ashton said: “It will be a great honour to represent the city of Cambridge to mark Remembrance Sunday. I hope people in the city will be able to take a moment to remember the sacrifices made by so many of their fellow Cambridge residents and others in two world wars and in other conflicts since then.”
Residents can also listen to live coverage of the Remembrance event from 10.30am on Sunday on Cambridge 105 Radio via the radio station’s website cambridge105.co.uk.
Also in the city centre, Lion Yard will be hosting its annual Remembrance Day parade - the only shopping centre in the country to do so.
It will start around 10.30am with the Salvation Army playing until just before 11, when the Exhortation will be read by Roger Allen, centre manager. There will then be a two-minute silence at 11am.
At 11.02, Reveille will be sounded followed by the reading of the Kohima Epitaph, which signals the end of the official service. The Salvation Army will continue playing for a further 15 minutes.
Roger Allen said: “Our tenants join in and don’t open until 11.10. As an average, we normally have around 500-1,000 people attending, and all observe the silence at 11. It’s very emotional seeing a shopping centre come to a halt for those two minutes.”
Later, from 5.30-6.30pm, Girton College will hold a special service in its chapel. The title of the service is Fortitude and the speaker will be the Rev Dr Tim Boniface, college chaplain.
Cambridge American Cemetery
Meanwhile, the Cambridge American Cemetery in Madingley will be holding an American Veterans’ Day ceremony from 11am-12pm on Friday (November 11), which is open to the public.
Matthew Brown, superintendent of Cambridge American Cemetery, said: “There’s a very important distinction there, between Remembrance Sunday and Veterans’ Day - it’s completely different.
“American Veterans’ Day is a day that we celebrate our Armed Forces, our service members, both living and those who have deceased. The difference between a Memorial Day [which takes place on the last Monday in May] and a Veterans’ Day is that on a Memorial Day it’s very sombre, but Veterans' Day is when Americans are letting off fireworks, having parades and barbecues."
Matthew noted that the American Battle Monuments Commission will not be hosting the service, just providing the venue, and confirmed that the United States Air Force will be hosting instead.
“This is their military celebration of the American veteran.”
The organisers are hoping to arrange a flypast for this year’s event, but it is weather-dependent
The vice chair of South Cambridgeshire District Council, Cllr Peter Fane, will represent the authority at the event and will lay a wreath.
South Cambridgeshire
On Remembrance Sunday, Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford will observe a two-minute silence at 11am to mark the end of the First World War and provide time to contemplate lives lost in war and conflict. The Royal Anglian Regiment will hold a traditional Service of Remembrance, which will be followed be a flypast by IWM's Spitfire, N3200 and a poppy drop over the airfield.
IWM Duxford, in line with the other IWM historic sites HMS Belfast and Churchill War Rooms, offers free admission to serving UK armed forces and veterans on Armed Forces Day and Remembrance Sunday.
Over in Histon, this year’s annual Remembrance Sunday gathering at the peace memorial will start at 9.30am. Representatives from local organisations will present wreaths and residents will pay their respects to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty. Afterwards, people are invited to Histon Baptist Church where tea, coffee and cakes will be served.
At St John's Church, Waterbeach, and All Saints’ Church, Landbeach, there will be Holy Communion at 9am, followed by a Remembrance morning worship at 10am. There will then be an Act of Remembrance at 10.50am, while down the road in Milton, a Remembrance service will take place at All Saints Church, moving to the war memorial for an Act of Remembrance at 11am.
For those unable to walk to the war memorial, or stand for several minutes, an Act of Remembrance will also take place in the church at 11am.
Elsewhere, the full parade is back this year at Sawston, as St Mary’s Church in the village hosts its remembrance service from 9.15am.
And you can join Great Shelford Free Church’s commemoration at 10am for a joint Remembrance Sunday service with St Mary's Church. The service will be held at Great Shelford Free Church and will be followed by a ceremony at the village memorial from 10.50am.
East Cambridgeshire
There will also be an Armistice service on Friday (November 11) at approximately 10.50am in Ely. The service will include the laying of wreaths at the war memorial by the mayor, East Cambridgeshire District Council chairman and the president of the City of Ely Royal British Legion Branch.
Anyone is welcome at Ely Cathedral on Remembrance Sunday for a moving service. There will also be a march through the city, a parade and Act of Remembrance in the Market Square.
This year, the organisers are hoping to begin with the short march from the Porta Gate, down The Gallery and to the cathedral. It is due to set off at 10am but if weather conditions prevent it, everyone will report to the cathedral for the service.
The Remembrance service in the cathedral begins at 10.30am and will include a two-minute silence at 11am and a poppy fall from the Lantern Tower. At approximately 11.15am, the City of Ely Military Band, standards and marching contingents will parade from the cathedral via The Gallery, Minster Place, High Street to the Market Place for the wreath-laying service at the Ely war memorial, concluding with a further two-minute silence, followed by a march past the war memorial to take the salute from the attending dignitary.
Soham branch members of the Royal British Legion will gather at the memorial at 11am on Friday (November 11). No wreaths will be laid. A street parade will then take place, courtesy of Soham Town Council, on Remembrance Sunday morning.
At 10.30am, the parade will be begin and there will be a two-minute silence at 11am. The parade will then march on to the church, arriving at 11.30am. The church service is expected to end at around noon and the invited guests will go to the Comrades Club for tea.
Huntingdonshire
Many other towns and villages are also planning services.
There are two events planned for St Ives. On Friday (November 11), a two-minute silence will be observed at 11am at the war memorial in Market Hill (meet at 10.50am) and on Sunday (November 13), there will be a full parade and Service of Remembrance at the war memorial. Meet at 10am in Station Road car park. Following the service and National Anthem, wreaths will be laid in honour of the fallen.
Want us to add an event? Email adrian.peel@iliffemedia.co.uk.
