COMMUNITIES in the district have been busy preparing to honour the memory of those who gave their lives in the First World War.
Events have been organised across the district to mark the centenary of the moment the guns fell silent marking the end of the 1914-18 conflict.
In Stratford, a parade will be led by mayor John Bicknell through the town to Holy Trinity Church for the remembrance service in the Garden of Remembrance in Old Town at 10.50am.
Led by the Royal British Legion and the Air Training Corps Marching Band, the procession will conclude with a march-past and salute outside the Town Hall at 11.30am.
At 3pm residents are invited to gather at Evesham Road Cemetery for a second commemoration and laying of wreaths.
And at 7pm a beacon will be lit in the Garden of Remembrance by Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire Tim Cox. It will be one of over 1,000 Beacons of Light symbolising an end to the darkness of war and a return to the light of peace.
Other towns in the district will also be honouring the centenary.
* In Henley commemorations kick off early with bagpipes playing “Battles Over” at the Market Cross at 6am.
This is followed by breakfast in the church hall before the parade from from Memorial Hall to St John’s Church, starting at 10.15am, and the Remembrance Service.
A torchlight procession will start at 6.15pm, followed by the lighting of the beacon at the Mount at 7pm, followed by fireworks.
An exhibition can also be seen in the church hall from 6pm to 8.30pm.
* In Alcester residents can hear a rendition of ‘Battles Over’ from a piper on St Nicholas’ Church green at 6am, followed by coffee.
The annual parade will begin at 10.15am from Bleachfield Street and proceed to the memorial at St Nicholas’ Church for the Remembrance Service.
Residents are also invited to gather for the official opening of centenary fields at the recreation ground at 6.30pm. The town’s beacon will be lit at 7pm.
* In Shipston the procession will start from the High Street at 10.30am to St Edmund’s Church for a service and wreath laying.
* Stratford Boat Club will also pay tribute to members who died in conflict at the memorial at its Swan’s Nest Lane headquarters from 10.40am.
Among those remembered will be Norman Kinman who served as a gunner in France.
Norman lived in Stratford High Street and a recently recovered minute book showed he helped in the regatta in 1914.
He was later enlisted into the Warwickshire Royal Horse Artillery, fought bravely during a large scale attack and received a medal for gallantry. But following a second attack the gunner was sent home after a gas shell exploded near him.
Norman died from flu and pneumonia around a year later – shortly after the birth of his son. His wife died in childbirth.
A wreath will be laid by his great, great grandson Chris Kinman accompanied by his wife and three daughters.
Also laying wreaths will be Peter Wyatt, the club’s oldest member, and its youngest Emily Cryer.
