Remembrance

Please note this is an outdoor Service within the park, so we advise you to dress for the weather.
Seating is not provided. If you or a family member are likely to find it hard to stand for the full service, you are welcome to bring a portable chair with you.

Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal
Volunteers from the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal will be at the gazebo in the park. They will have traditional and silk poppies, wooden crosses, lapel pins all available for a donation. They will be there early so you can get your poppies before the service commences. You can also pick up your copy of the Order of Service from here.
Southampton's annual Remembrance Service is always well attended and the Royal British Legion volunteer collectors look forward to meeting many members of our armed services, their families, members of the public and organised groups who stop by.

Laying a Wreath
There is a pre-organised wreath laying section within the Service for invited city representatives only.
After this there is a brief section for public wreaths. If you also wish to lay a wreath on behalf of an organisation or your family, listen out for the PA announcement for this opportunity after the main wreath laying. This is restricted to a maximum of two persons laying your wreath and you must then immediately return back to the public viewing area.
Alternatively, you can lay your wreath on the Cenotaph after the Service has finished with time for your own private reflection.

Please use city centre parking 
Please note the Civic Centre Car Park will be closed until 2pm.

Notice of Road Closures.
To facilitate this event road closures will be in place between 7.00am and 2.00pm. on Sunday 10 November.
West Marlands Road - entire length.
Commercial Road - from junction at Havelock Road to Above Bar Street.
Above Bar Street - from junction at New Road / Civic Centre Road to junction at Brunswick Place.
Gibbs Road - entire length.

The bus stops on Above Bar Street near the Cenotaph and on Commercial Road near the Library and the Art Gallery will not be in use between 7am - 2pm. Please check with Blue Star Bus for any changes to your bus route. 
You can also use the Journey planner on My Journey Southampton website

Remembrance Sunday Ceremony at the Southampton Old Cemetery

The Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery (FoSOC) holding a ‘Remembrance Sunday Ceremony ‘, on Sunday 10 November. 
Commencing 2.30pm, at ‘The Cross of Sacrifice’, just inside the main entrance to the Old Cemetery. The ceremony will conclude at the Belgian War Memorial.

All are welcome, if you wish to lay a wreath at either cross pleased do let FoSOC know, and we will include this in the ceremony. 
There is no need to book, just come along on the day.

Find out more here.

War Memorials Southampton

We have included some War memorials located in the city on a map below so you can find one near to your home.
There are memorials and lots of gravestones in the Southampton Old Cemetery and local churchyards, stained glass windows in churches all commemorating people who died serving in various wars.

You may also be interested in War Memorials Online and The Imperial War Museum's Register of War Memorials

Support the Royal British Legion and the Poppy Appeal - Every Poppy Counts

The Royal British Legion collectors have been at the heart of the Poppy Appeal for 100 years.
You can purchase Poppy Appeal products from the The Poppy Shop online

100% of the profits from the Poppy Shop go towards funding the Legion’s ongoing work in supporting the Armed Forces community, serving and ex-serving personnel and their families.

Find out how you can get involved by visiting the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal webpage.
How do you wear your poppy?
Things you might not know about the poppy

The Southampton Cenotaph was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens.  This memorial was the first of dozens by Lutyens to be built in permanent form and it influenced his later designs, including The Cenotaph on Whitehall in London.

The image on the left is from Southampton's unveiling event in 1920. The image below is from a Remembrance Service in 1921.

The monument was intended to encourage a perception of the soldier having fallen in a peaceful, ‘beautiful death’. The face of the soldier looks skywards and is not visible from the ground, allowing the onlooker to imagine the soldier is their own lost relative.

The Cenotaph was unveiled by General John Seely (Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire) at a public ceremony on 6 November 1920.
The names of Southampton’s Fallen Heroes are inscribed on the walls of the Cenotaph. They are also on the green glass Memorial Walls located either side of the Cenotaph, which include names of the dead of the Second World War, and those who had died in subsequent conflicts.

The Image above is from a Remembrance Service in 1921.Images Credit - Southampton Archives.

Find out more about the history of The Cenotaph in Southampton.

If you are unable to visit The Cenotaph over the coming week to pay your respects, we can bring the war memorial to you.
See the Cenotaph Virtual Tour below.

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

When you go home, tell them of us and say, ‘for their tomorrow, we gave our today'.

The 6 November is also a special commemorative date for Southampton.

On the afternoon of 6 November 1940 at 2.45pm German raiders dropped twelve 500Ib incendiary bombs on the centre of Southampton.

Two bombs were a direct hit on the Art Gallery of the Civic Centre; it penetrated the roof, two floors, and exploded in the basement shelter, killing seventeen children who were attending their weekly art lesson.

The commemorative memorial is located inside the Art Gallery and Library Foyer.
It is in the form of raised calligraphy by the artist Richard Kindersley, officially opened on 28 March 1944 as part of the North Guild refurbishment to remember the seventeen schoolgirls, two school staff and other Civic Centre employees who tragically lost their lives in that fateful day.