COMMEMORATIONS to mark the centenary of the First World War will draw to a close this weekend as Worcester residents prepare to pay tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Before the Remembrance Sunday ceremony there is a weekend of events taking place at the Hive with the highlight being the People’s Collection, part of the Worcestershire World War One Hundred project.
Visitors have a final chance to take a look at the plethora of letters, photog raphers and objects from across the county which have been painstakingly complied by researchers.
A day of remembrance and commemoration will be held at the Hive from 10am to 8.30pm today (Friday).
Throughout the day Discover History and the Worcestershire World War One Hundred Bell Tent will be in the atrium for visitors find out more about the First World War at home and at the front.
At 6pm members of Dancefest and the Worcestershire Junior Youth Dance Company will take to the stage for a free performance of When They Come Home.
This moving dance piece, created by choreographer Clare Wood, explores how the support soldiers gave each other during the conflict and helped them to get through horrendous and unimaginable times.
Drop-in Armistice activities will be held on Saturday from 10am to 4pm and visitors can view the wall of handcrafted poppies, representing Worcestershire men and women who lost their lives in the Great War and get involved with family activities including making your own poppies.
At 4pm there is another chance to view The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of The Tanks (1916), a little-known masterpiece of British non-fiction cinema which documents the autumn and winter stages of the Somme campaign on the Western Front. Visit www.thehiveworcester.org to book.
Remembrance Sunday will feature with the tradtional Armistice Remembrance service and poppy drop at Worcester Cathedral which will begin with a lone piper at the Cenotaph playing ‘The Battle’s Over; a Nation’s tribute’ at 6am.
The service will begin at 10am before a wreath-laying at the war memorial and the traditional two minute silence at 11am which will conclude with a poppy drop outside the Cenotaph.
A procession to the Guildhall where the Lord Lieutenant and the Mayor of Worcester Coun Jabba Riaz will take the salute as the Remembrance parade marches past will follow.
Worcester Art Gallery and Museum have a packed programme of activities on Remembrance Sunday from 11am to 4pm while beacons will be lit as darkness falls across the city with a poignant ceremony at the top of Fort Royal Park from 6pm.
“These events will give people in Worcester a number of opportunities to remember all those who gave their lives one hundred years ago so we could have the peace and freedom we enjoy today,” said Coun Riaz.
“The importance of reflecting and learning from these events cannot be over-emphasised.
“By learning from the mistakes of the past, we will be in a much stronger position to create a better world for tomorrow,” he added.
