Loughborough remembers...

Thousands attended Remembrance Sunday events across Charnwood and Loughborough.

Thousands of people came together in Loughborough to mark 100 years since the end of World War One on Sunday 11th November.

People gathered in the town centre and Queen’s Park to see the annual Remembrance Parade and service at the Carillon Tower.

Silence fell at 11am as people remembered those who gave their lives for this country and poppies cascaded from the top of the tower.

The day also included other events organised by Charnwood Borough Council under the Charnwood 14-18 banner.

A Charnwood Heritage Plaque was unveiled, a live showcase entertained people in the Market Place, a life-size war horse decorated in poppies was revealed and a beacon lit in the evening.

A community poppy cascade of knitted poppies hung from the balcony of Loughborough Town Hall which also hosted a tea dance.

 Cllr Jonathan Morgan, leader of Charnwood Borough Council, said: “I was proud to be in  Loughborough on November 11 to join thousands of people in remembering those who gave their lives for this country.

“The service at the Carillon Tower was incredibly moving and powerful, particularly in this significant year, and the events around town, including the unveiling of a Charnwood Heritage Plaque, were a fitting tribute to the fallen.

“We were also pleased to hear the bells of the Carillon ring for the first time since the Council completed a significant conservation project.

“There were many events across the borough and the Charnwood community should be immensely proud of the way it commemorated Armistice Day."

Cllr Morgan thanked everyone who played a part in putting on the events on Sunday.

The day started with the annual Remembrance Day parade with the Royal British Legion and other local groups followed by a service at the Carillon Tower.

A crowd of thousands stood silent in memory of the fallen as poppies cascaded from the Carillon Tower in Queen’s Park.

The parade then headed to the Market Place for the salute and where a Charnwood Heritage Plaque was unveiled. The location was used as a gathering point by troops at the outbreak of the war.

Photographs from the time and articles in the newspapers say the 5th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment met in the Market Place on August 11, 1914 before heading off to join the conflict.

It is the second plaque to be unveiled as part of the Council scheme which aims to mark interesting people, places and events in Charnwood.

In the afternoon there was a live showcase on a big stage in the town centre where local groups and musicians entertained the crowds.

A Remembrance Wall, funded by Loughborough Market traders, with the names on crosses of every fallen soldier in Charnwood took pride of place on the stage.

All events in the town centre were broadcast on to a giant TV screen.

In the evening, the Council’s Armed Forces champion Cllr Hilary Fryer lit a beacon with Mavis Bell, 91, whose father Henry Wright volunteered to fight in 1914 when he was 16 years old. The beacon was one of more than 1,000 across the country to be lit on Sunday.

The Carillon Tower then took part in a national bell peal before a recital was given. It marked the first time the bells had been played since the Council completed a £282,000 conservation project this year, supported by the War Memorials Trust.