Boats and music

THE village of Rudyard is taking part in commemorating 100 years since the end of the First World War on November 11.

The Rudyard Lake Trust, League of Friends and Horton Parish Council are taking part in Battle’s Over, an international commemoration marking 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of the Great War.

The day will begin at 6am with a lone piper playing Battle’s O’er, a traditional Scottish air played after a battle, on the Dam Head at Rudyard Lake.

The Remembrance Day Service at the Chapel in Lake Road, Rudyard will start at 10.30am will feature another Piper who will play Flowers of the Forest to the congregation along with escorting the party to the Jubilee Stone in the village.

During the day a ‘Dazzle Boat’ will be featured on the Lake painted by one of the volunteers. During WW1 many boats were painted in this way in order to confuse the enemy torpedoes. There will also be a scale model Battle Ship plying the reservoir and firing its cannons from time to time. At 6.55pm buglers will sound the Last Post at more than 1,000 locations, where at 7pm beacons will be lit in a tribute called Beacons of Light, signifying the light of peace that emerged from the darkness of four years of war.

The lighting of the Beacon at Rudyard will be ‘announced’ by a pistol shot from Roger Ball, chairman of the Horton Parish Council, and will be ignited on the Lake itself on a boat.

Ray Perry, of The Rudyard Lake League of Friends, said: “We are proud to be playing a part in this historic international event to commemorate the centenary of the end of the Great War, and to recognise the contribution and sacrifice made by the men and women from our own community.”