Service of Remembrance

Eastbourne's Service of Remembrance is back at The War Memorial on Sunday 8 November. It's the town's annual way of stopping to remember, and it's a morning that brings together a fair few different parts of the community.

The day kicks off with a military parade setting off from the Terminus Road precinct at 10.25am, making its way along Cornfield Road to the War Memorial. Leading the way are the military, ex-service, and emergency services, joined by a civic parade from the Town Hall headed by the Mayor of Eastbourne, Councillor Margaret Bannister, and the Deputy Lieutenant of East Sussex, Professor Nick Webborn CBE DL. Once everyone's gathered, the thanksgiving service is conducted by the Mayor's Chaplain, Reverend Jonathan Gaylord, with the Eastbourne Citadel Salvation Army Band and the Scottish Pipe Band providing the music. There's a two-minute silence at 11am, followed by the official wreath-laying, before ex-military personnel parade along South Street.

If you're in town that day, it's also worth remembering the other sites that form the town's remembrance landscape. There are the War Memorial Houses in Victoria Drive, funded by residents at the end of the Second World War as a tribute to those killed or injured in action; they're still home to ex-service personnel with medical disabilities and their families. And then there's the Ruthless Memorial at Butts Brow, which honours the crew of a USAAF Liberator bomber that crashed into the downland above Willingdon in 1944. Both are quiet spots to visit on your own if you're not heading to the main service.

So, the main event is Sunday 8 November at The War Memorial, with the military parade setting off from Terminus Road at 10.25am and the two-minute silence at 11am.