Town ready for special Armistice Day
A‘STUNNING’ series of events to mark the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day are set to get underway across the borough.
A century ago – at 11am on November 11, 1918 – marked the time when guns finally fell silent after four years of trench warfare and general European slaughter.
The East Lancashire Regiment Accrington, or as we know them, the Accrington Pals, suffered huge losses including more than 600 casualties at the Battle of the Somme.
Events to mark the centenary are taking place across Hyndburn this weekend, including the official opening of the new £2m town square dedicated to the memory of the Pals.
The ceremony will start at 11am on Saturday, November 10, where a plaque will be unveiled by a serving member of the Duke of Lancaster Regiment. An interactive screen will also be unveiled in the town hall together with a plaque to acknowledge the work of renowned Pals historian Walter Holmes.
Visitors will be able to enjoy vintage rides, a carousel, swing boats and fairground stalls on the square and look at exhibitions on the history of the Market Hall and the Extraordinary Women of Accrington.
Victoria Ingham, business and marketing coordinator at Hyndburn council, said: “In the Market Hall we will also be having a company called History Needs You, taking vintage photos of people for free.
“They have manufactured some old Accrington Pals uniforms and some vintage clothing for the kids to put on so that’s going to be lovely.”
On Remembrance Sunday services and parades will be held across the borough for residents to pay their respects.
A lone piper will play ‘Battle’s Over - Sleep in Peace’ outside the town hall at 6am on November 11 before the sound of 1,000 bagpipes fill the air before dawn has broken.
Oakhill Park in Accrington will host a remembrance service at 11am with free transport to and from Accrington bus station. Hyndburn council said they have secured an Accrington bus from the period. After the service a procession will be led to Church Street where two benches will be unveiled by the Royal British Legion.
A cast of local actors, including former Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, will read the Accrington Pals Play at 2pm in the Town Hall Ballroom. It is expected to last two hours and will be followed by refreshments from the period.
Shortly before 7pm a lone bugler will play the Last Post in the town square before beacons of light shine out from the Town Hall balcony at 7pm. St James Church bells will ring out at 7.05pm and the Town Crier will read a proclamation for peace. Holding images will then be projected onto the facade of the Market Hall before a specially commissioned animated film will be projected onto the Town Hall.
The film lasts around 13 minutes and will be shown every 30 minutes from 7.30pm to 10pm.
Victoria said: “It will be a nice evening for people to reflect on the Pals, to see how the town has moved on and it’s a celebration of past, present and future.”
A new exhibition to mark the centenary of the 1918 Armistice has opened at Accrington Library. Entitled ‘Peace and Remembrance’, it features reports from the Observer telling how the people of Hyndburn greeted the news that the fighting had stopped in November 1918.
The exhibition also details how local churches, factories and other organisations honoured the men and women who served in the war by producing Rolls of Honour. A number of original Rolls of Honour are on display - several fine examples of calligra- phy and illumination.
The exhibition also looks at the erection of permanent war memorials in our towns and villages and in churches, clubs and places of work during and after the war. The exhibition will run in the Lending Library until Friday, November 30.