The people of Upminster came out in their droves to commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War at special Remembrance Day event this morning (Sunday, November 11).
Led by the Essex Caledonian Pipe Band, a parade assembled at the town’s Royal British Legion branch in St Mary’s Lane before marching through the town centre and arriving at the St Laurence Church war memorial in Corbets Tey.
Hundreds if not thousands of residents lined the street as a short memorial service was then held, including two minutes’ of impeccably observed silence at 11am - exactly a century after the last shot was fired in the First World War.
Then followed the laying of wreaths, led by local councillors but also including a number of youth groups such as Girl Guides, Rainbows and Scouts as well as students representing local secondary schools Hall Mead and Coopers’ Company and Coborn School.
Speaking to the Recorder after the ceremony, the leader of the Upminster and Cranham Residents Association, Cllr Clarence Barrett, said he was pleased with how the day had unfolded.
He said: “It has been an absolute honour to be involved, particularly in this year as we mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
“I think that it is a great reflection on the people of Upminster, and indeed on those from further afield, that we still come together and remember them on this day.
“The entire service was wonderfully done and exceptionally well observed by all those here today, I think we must have had around 2,000 people come out for it.”
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