Remembrance Sunday was marked with dignified services across Waveney.
In Beccles, a ceremony at the town’s war memorial in St Mary’s Road was led by Mayor Hugh Taylor, accompanied by the Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk June de Moller.
It was organised by the Beccles branch of the Royal British Legion, and marshalled by the Beccles Army Cadets.
Beccles Sea Cadets, Royal Marine Cadets, Army Cadets, RAF Cadets, the police, fire and ambulance services, the Scouts, Guides and a number of Beccles schools were all represented, as well as a large number of Beccles residents and armed forces veterans.
Waveney MP Peter Aldous, leader of Waveney District Council Colin Law and councillor Mark Bee – representing Suffolk County Council – also attended along with the deputy mayor, town councillors, the town clerk and the deputy town clerk.
After the ceremony, the veterans led a march back into the town along Ballygate to St Michael’s Church, where a service of remembrance took place.
It was led by the Rev Andrew Platt and the sermon on the role of the military in society was given by Bishop Gavin Reid.
Mayor Hugh Taylor said: “The service was well attended, notably including members of the town’s many youth organisations, and during it the names and roads where they lived within the town of all those from Beccles who died on active service during 1915 were read out.
“Of special poignancy was the inclusion of the name of a young man from the town who was wounded at Gallipoli in 1915, then again in France later in the war but who took his own life shortly after the war ended, illustrating the enduring impact of the horrors of war.
“Throughout the day attention was drawn to the continuing role of the armed services today and the impact on them and their families of what they are asked to do in the service of their country.”
In Bungay, a parade through the town centre led by a Second World War military vehicle preceded the annual Remembrance Day Service.
It also included the town’s Royal British Legion branch, mayor Olly Barnes, the Town Reeve Terry Reeve, deputy lieutenant of Suffolk David Sheepshank, and uniformed and voluntary organisations with their standards.
The service was taken by the Rev Ian Byrne, Rector of the Bungay benefice, who also preached the sermon while the town’s Roman Catholic priest, Abbot Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard, led prayers. Readings were by the Town Reeve and Ann Byrne of the Trefoil Guild.
The names of Bungay men who died in the two world wars were read, and the Last Post and Reveille sounded.
Afterwards a wreath laying ceremony took place at the war memorial as dusk fell, led by the Royal British Legion men’s and women’s branch sections, the mayor, Town Reeve and deputy lieutenant. Then during refreshments at the Royal British Legion Club, members of the Bungay Fisher Youth Theatre Group sung familiar wartime songs.
A large crowd gathered in Loddon to watch the parade and laying of wreaths by Loddon and district British Legion, Loddon Army cadets, the fire and police service, Loddon Parish Council, Scouts, Cubs, Beavers and Brownies. The roll of honour was read by Ralph Upton and, after a silence at 11am, there was a service in Holy Trinity Church.
Towns across the region then fell silent again on Armistice Day as the Last Post sounded in Beccles town centre at 11am on November 11.
A crowd of 150 people observed the national Armistice Day anniversary silence at the war memorial in Bungay. The Royal British Legion paraded its standards, and the Last Post and Reveille were sounded.
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