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Armistice Day this year will be a landmark anniversary of 100 years since the First World War ended.
The 11 November 2018 is a particularly special year to remember those who fought and died in the war, which came to a close on the same day in 1918.
Guernsey is marking this centenary throughout Remembrance Sunday, which this year coincides with Armistice Day itself.
A number of different services and commemorations will be taking place, with a full itinerary found below. It will all take place around the usual Remembrance parade in Town, with a service being held at 11:00 once a two minute silence has been marked by the gun at Castle Cornet. That service will conclude with the laying of wreaths.
Castle Cornet will be open free to the public from 10:00 until midday so they can attend the gun firing, and also look around the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry Museum and the 201 Squadron RAF museum.
The Royal British Legion has arranged for Perspex figures of British ‘Tommies’ to be seated in island churches to remind us of those who are no longer here. This year’s Poppy Appeal is being supported at a concert of Commemoration and Remembrance at St James on Saturday 10 November by Guernsey Symphonic Winds.
Finally, ‘The End of the First World War’ is featured in a small foyer display at Guernsey Museum until the end of the year. It shows how the War did not simply ‘end’ on 11 November 1918. Additionally, the Island Archive Service is mounting an exhibition ‘Letters from the Front’ to mark the end of the war. This runs until March 2019 at St Barnabas and entry is free.
On the evening of 11 November, Guernsey will join over 1,000 locations in Britain and the Overseas Territories in the ‘Battle’s Over’ tribute.
11 November 2018 Guernsey Itinerary:
08:59 - the air raid siren at Victoria Tower will sound, followed by the all clear.
11:00 - the gun at Castle Cornet will fire to mark a two-minute silence. Gunners from the Guernsey Military History Company will be dressed in uniforms of the First World War. A second gun marks the end of the two minutes’ silence.
11:00 - immediately following that, a service at the war memorial at the top of Smith Street will begin, concluding in the laying of the wreaths.
18:55 - a bugler will sound the Last Post on the Citadel at Castle Cornet.
19:00 The Bailiff, Sir Richard Collas, will light the Castle Beacon, as one of a chain of Beacons of Light (this will not be a public event).
19:05 - Bell ringers will play the Ring out for Peace at Town Church. 1,500 hand-made poppies representing the local men who lost their lives in the First World War will be displayed at the Church.
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