Thousands to join Remembrance events across the Portsmouth area

The annual ceremonies will begin on Armistice Day, on Friday, followed by the traditional Remembrance Sunday events next weekend.

Thousands are expected to join the services across the Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport and Havant areas.

Penny Mordaunt, Portsmouth North MP, said this year would be particularly poignant as it coincides with the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.

She said: ‘The living conditions these men faced in the trenches were hideous. It must have been an ordeal on an hourly basis.

‘So it’s right we remember their sacrifices and those made by every serviceman and woman since.’

Portsmouth’s remembrance begins on Friday with a service at the Cenotaph, next to the Guildhall.

The event starts at 10.50am and will include a two-minute silence, with a selection of poems and prayers and a bugler playing the Last Post.

Then on Sunday, November 13, a Remembrance Day service will be held in Guildhall Square.

Serving military personnel and veterans will parade into the square at 10.30am, led by the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood and the Salvation Army Portsmouth Citadel Band.

The ceremony will begin at 10.58am and a gun from HMS Nelson will be fired at 11am to mark the two-minute silence.

Wreaths will be laid at the Cenotaph and the Second World War memorial, which will be shown on the Big Screen in Guildhall Square.

A parade will also be taking place in Fareham town centre.

Members of the Royal British Legion will join civic leaders and sailors from HMS Collingwood in the parade, through West Street, at 10am.

A service will be held at Holy Trinity Church before a wreath-laying and two-minute silence at the war memorial at 11am.

Mayor of Fareham Councillor Connie Hockley said: ‘It’s really important we pay our respects and remember those who have fallen in past and present wars. Their bravery should be commended and it’s an honour to pay tribute to them on Remembrance Sunday.’

SERVICES AROUND THE AREA

PARADES and services will be marking this year’s annual Remembrance period.

n Emsworth: Wreaths will be laid at Emsworth Memorial Gardens, at 11am on Friday. On Remembrance Sunday there will be a uniformed youth parade at St James Church, in Church Path, at 2.40pm

n Gosport: A parade will take place at 10.30am, in Bury Road, to the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, where wreaths will be laid.

n Havant: A two-minute silence will be held at the war memorial, in North Street, on Friday at 11am. On Remembrance Sunday there will be a parade and service outside St Faith’s Church, North Street, followed by a Remembrance ceremony inside the church.

n Hayling Island: Mengham Junior School, in Palmerston Road, will host a Remembrance assembly for Armistice Day, on Friday, from 11am. The island’s main service is at the war memorial by the Co-op in Church Road.

n Portsmouth: The Type 21 Association is laying a wreath at the Royal Naval Memorial on Remembrance Sunday.