IN PICTURES: Never forgotten: Remembrance Day parades through the decades

The tradition of a two-minute silence, on the anniversary of the Armistice that ended the Great War, began in 1919.

Then, as now, London’s Whitehall was the centre of the national tributes to those who had lost their lives, but all around the country, communities paid tribute at their own war memorials.

There were no Remembrance Day events during the Second World War, but the parades and the wreath-laying resumed in November 1945.

World War Two had cost the country around 383,700 lives in the military and 67,200 among civilians. And although VE Day and VJ Day had been marked by parties and rejoicing, there was an appreciation that hardship would continue as Britain worked to rebuild its economy.

The Daily Echo of Monday, November 12, 1945, reported on the proceedings around the area.

In Bournemouth, service detachments assembled in Gervis Road East and marched to War Memorial via Bath Hill and Westover Road.

A host of cadet and ex-service organisations also took part in the ceremony, the paper reported, as the mayor, Cllr Robert Old, joined the procession at the war memorial. There, the Rural Dean of Bournemouth, Canon FC Leroyd, officiated over the service, along with the mayor’s chaplain, the Rev Dr John Short.

The Echo reported: “Dr Short had just finished reading the well-known sentences from Ecclesiasticus when the bursting of the first maroon proclaimed the Silence, and the hush which fell over that great crowd in the heart of town was so complete that a child’s plaintive cry and the rustle of falling leaves were the only sounds to be heard.”

In Poole, contingents of Royal Navy personnel and ex-servicemen marched from the Guildhall to St James’ Church.

The Echo reported on the sermon given by the Bishop of Salisbury: “The Bishop said they spoke of the men who died in this and the last war when they said that their names would live for ever.

“He asked whether the names of the men who died at Agincourt, defeating the Armada, fighting at Trafalgar, Waterloo or in the Boer War had lived forever. The 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars were different. Those who took part had joined up in the vast majority of cases because of the urge to do their ‘bit’, which was very different from previous wars; added to which there was a greater probability of their being among the fallen. There had been a greater spirit of comradeship, and they endeavoured to retain it afterwards through the British Legion and other old comrades’ associations. This was one of the glories of this and the last war, amid all that was terrible.”

The procession then went to Poole Park for the wreath-laying. In the afternoon, the Hamworthy branch of the British Legion held their own Remembrance Day service.

Christchurch saw “very large congregations” for two services in the Priory that day, the Echo reported.

The mayor, Alderman D Galton, with members of the corporation, attended the morning service conducted by new vicar, the Rev RP Price.

He told the congregation that the problems of peace and reconstruction would be more complex than those of war.

“Mr Price said we owed a great debt to the men who had died – and it was up to us to build a way of life worthy of their sacrifices. ‘We must not fail,’ he urged, ‘and if we build with God, on His foundation, we shall not fail’,” the Echo said.

In Wimborne, the Minster was filled to capacity that afternoon when the vicar, the Rev Canon Al Leith, led the service, after Legion members marched from their headquarters in Park Lane.

In the New Forest, Lymington’s mayor, Alderman Captain BH Goodhard, attended services at Lymington Parish Church and at New Milton’s war memorial at the Recreation Ground.

The Echo reported that the British Legion had made representations to the government about moving Armistice Day to July, but in the event, it remained on the calendar as a November fixture. For many years, the main activity took place on the nearest Sunday to November 11, but in the 1990s the idea of a two-minute silence on the day itself was revived.

The format of the event has changed little over the years, but the number of conflicts that led to British casualties continued. Korea, the Falklands, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the troubles in Northern Ireland, all claimed lives.

The number of World War One veterans at the parades dwindled until none were left to join the national event in 2009.

The number of World War Two veterans has diminished steadily in recent times, but plenty still turn out to reflect on the sacrifices that were made more than seven decades ago.