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Town Hall announces service details for Remembrance Day

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As the civic authorities have done for more than 100 years, Croydon will tomorrow remember and honour those killed in service for the country in armed conflicts, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Conventions will be observed at 11am tomorrow with a two-minute silence at the Croydon Cenotaph outside the Town Hall on Katharine Street, followed by wreath-laying.

The council’s press office got round to issuing details of the 2021 Remembrance Services yesterday afternoon, November 9.

There will be a civic service of remembrance at 10.55am on Sunday, November 14 at Croydon Minster. Attendees are asked to be seated by 10.40am. Because of covid-19, there is a reduced capacity in the Minster and those attending are requested to wear a face covering and maintain social distancing to help keep everyone safe.

Following the service at the Minster, starting at 12.15pm there will be a Remembrance parade of what the council media professionals describe as “military personnel and uniformed groups”.

The parade will begin outside Marks & Spencer on North End and finish at the memorial at Katharine Street, where a wreath-laying ceremony will commence at 12.30pm.

Sixty people were killed in one air raid during the 1940 Blitz on Croydon

Croydon’s Cenotaph is unusual in that it specifically commemorates “the men and women who died and suffered”. Croydon was notable for being among the first places in Britain to suffer attacks from the air, with Zeppelin bombing raids in World War I, and then the town suffered particularly harshly in the Blitz of World War II, when Croydon and Kenley RAF bases were among the targets of the Luftwaffe.

The Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Sherwan Chowdhury, will lead the ceremony and lay the first wreath. Other civic, faith and community leaders will then lay wreaths followed by members of the public.

The council says, “Anyone who wishes to lay a wreath may do so and should congregate outside the Spread Eagle pub at 12.20pm and will be directed when they should lay their wreath. The wreath-laying ceremony will finish at around 1pm.”

During the parade, there will be road closures in place between 10am and 1.30pm at Katharine Street, Fell Road, St George’s Walk and the High Street from the Flyover up to Katharine Street. Bus diversions will be in place.

“Our Remembrance events are an opportunity for us all to honour the immense sacrifice that our men and women of the military have given in order to maintain the peace and freedoms that we enjoy today,” said Mayor Chowdhury.

“I hope everyone in Croydon will join me as we come together to remember them.”

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