TRADITIONALLY it is the members of the armed and emergency services and their families who are remembered on Remembrance Day: for sacrificing their lives in defence of the UK.

In recent years, civilians who have helped defend their countries or have been the target of military action and lost their lives have also been remembered at church and civil ceremonies.

Remembrance Day is held on the second Sunday in November: this makes sure it is close to 11th November, when a ceasefire halted World War 1 fighting in Europe. The ceasefire began at 11am, and this time is remembered with a two minute silence.

Much of the fighting in World War I took place in the poppy fields of France, and the poppy is worn in the days approaching Remembrance Day. A white poppy is worn by those who want to celebrate peace without appearing to glorify war.

Church Remembrance Services
10am: St John on Bethnal Green (followed by a wreath laying in Bethnal Green Gardens)
10.15am: St George in the East Church, Cannon Street Road
10.30am: Christ Church, Manchester Road
10.30am: St Anne’s Church, Limehouse
10.45am: St Luke’s Millwall Church, Alpha Grove

There are two memorial events in secular venues.
10.30am: The Merchant Navy Memorial, Trinity Square Gardens
10.40am: The War Memorial in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Southern Grove.
(Please book a ticket for this event on the Cemetery Park website to help organisers manage numbers.)

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