Banbury Remembrance Sunday 2024
Published: 11 November 2024
Banbury Town Council’s Remembrance event welcomed large crowds on Sunday 10th November, with attendees from every corner of the town and beyond joining in with the commemorations and paying their respects to those who have lost their lives to conflict.
The large military parade disembarked from the Town Hall and up High Street towards St. Mary’s Church, where a service in honour of those who have lost their lives to conflict was held. Afterwards, a wreath-laying ceremony, which was contributed to by veterans, cadets, and regiments from across Banbury and well-beyond (including members of the US armed forces). The parade then returned past Banbury Cross and back down High Street, where it completed its journey back outside Town Hall.
The parade, service, and wreath-laying come after weeks of Council-led projects and activities celebrating Remembrance Day 2024, which falls 110 years after the start of World War I, the conflict that initiated Remembrance services across the country ever since. While WWI led to the creation of Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day, every conflict – and those that lost their lives to them – is acknowledged during this time.
Other Remembrance initiatives included 800 hand-stitched crocheted poppies, created by local group All Things Woolly. These poppies, attached to camouflage netting, hangs over the balcony of the Town Hall, which is also illuminated nightly with red lighting and eye-catching projections commemorating the occasion. These will all be on display until the 17th November.
The Council also worked with several schools, including St. Leonard’s, St. Mary’s, Wroxton Primary, Bishop Loveday School, and Frank Wise School to decorate dozens of large poppies with the names of fallen soldiers who lost their lives during WWI and WWII. The names of these soldiers were taken from the war memorials within Saint Mary’s Church, with Banbury Air Cadets 1460 also assisting in transferring these names onto the poppies.
Meanwhile, art students from Activate Learning have been hard at work on a number of pieces in honour of Remembrance Day, with a wide range of subjects covered, including the D-Day landings, the 80th anniversary of which was celebrated earlier in the year on the 6th June.
This event comes at the end of a year of Banbury Town Council events paying tribute to historical sacrifices during a number of conflicts, with the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Britain both honoured earlier in the year.
Anyone looking for more information can send an email to info@banbury.gov.uk. Meanwhile, stay up to date on council events of all sizes by following Banbury Town Council on Facebook and @banburyevents on Instagram.
