They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918, the First World War ended. Such was the importance of that occasion, we have commemorated that date ever more and, on Sunday 11 November 2007, Remembrance Services will be held countrywide, allowing us to reflect and remember those who lost their lives.
Gosport’s Civic Remembrance Day ceremony will be held at the War Memorial Hospital on Sunday 11 November at 10.59am. Built as the town memorial to the First World War and paid for by town’s residents and the Royal Marines Light Infantry who were based here at the time, Gosport War Memorial Hospital is indeed an appropriate setting for this moving ceremony.
The Gosport Silver Band will provide the accompanying music and, members of the Royal British Legion and Old Comrades Associations will join representatives from the many community groups to lay wreaths.
The Guard will be provided courtesy of HMS Sultan and Vice Admiral Sir Roy Newman KCB, JP, DL (Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire) and the Mayor of Gosport, Councillor Keith Gill, will take the salute on the conclusion of the ceremony.
“We hope the public will take the opportunity to come along to the ceremony and give thanks to, and remember all those who lost their lives, and sadly still do today, in defence of their country,” said the Mayor, Councillor Keith Gill.
“Many people are still in the mindset that Remembrance Sunday is about those who fought and lost their lives in the First and Second World War. Well for some yes, I suppose it is, but sadly these days it goes a whole lot further. For as well as those brave men who fought so hard in the First and Second World Wars we must also remember those killed in other conflicts around the world, in places like Suez, Northern Ireland, The Falklands and more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. Brothers, husbands, married men with young children and single young men just starting off in life. And of course we now have young women fighting. Not only do they show such bravery carrying out a difficult job under appalling conditions, but they too unfortunately are killed. We must remember them all.”
Several roads will be closed between 10am and 12 noon to ensure the safe and smooth running of the parade and service. Roads affected will be Bury Road from Foster Road/Gordon Road; Anns Hill Road from Carnarvon Road to Bury Cross; Privett Road from Jellicoe Avenue to Bury Cross and The Avenue from Bury Hall Lane to Bury Cross.
Running concurrently will be two services held at Lee on the Solent. The first is the Service of Remembrance at the War Memorial, Lee on the Solent, on the site of the former Lee Tower. The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Derek Kimber, will join Ward Councillors for this ceremony, which commences at 11am.
There will also be an 11am ceremony at the Fleet Air Arm Memorial, Marine Parade West. The Band, Guard and Marching Platoons will fall in on Marine Parade adjacent to Osborne Road at 10.40am, to march to the memorial. Following a short ceremony they will then march past for the salute.
This service again requires road closures from 10am. Roads affected will be Marine Parade West from the HMS Daedalus slipway to Osborne Road and from Marine Parade West along Richmond Road to its junction with Kings Road. The slipway will also be closed to jet skiers for the duration of the service to avoid noise interruption.
After lunch the Mayor will attend a second Remembrance Day Service at Northcott House, the town’s living war memorial to the Second World War. The service will be held in the beautiful grounds of the residential retirement and nursing home, situated in Bury Hall Lane, Gosport. Gosport Silver Band will provide the music for the ceremony which commences at 2.30pm to which the public are welcome to attend.
