Schedule of events for Remembrance Day weekend

By Gillian Slade on November 9, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

Remembrance Day events commence on Saturday and continue Sunday — initially at the Esplanade followed by a parade and then a service at Riverside Veterans Memorial Park, culminating with the ringing of bells 100 times at sunset.

“We Will Remember Them” is a special presentation, at the Esplanade from 2 p.m. on Saturday, acknowledging the centenary of the Armistice.

There will be a procession from the Canadian Legion, Suffield and BATUS. A bell will be rung for the many people from this area who lost their lives during the First World War. Music will include piper Cam Clark and an orchestra performing many pieces we traditionally associate with Remembrance Day.

On Sunday morning a service will take place at the Esplanade at 9:30 a.m. with special mention made of it being the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, said Sheila Donner, president of the Royal Canadian Legion, Robertson Memorial Branch No. 17 in Medicine Hat.

Immediately after the service there will be the traditional parade from the Esplanade, down First Street, to Riverside Veterans Memorial Park for a ceremony at the cenotaph at 11 a.m.

Following the singing of a hymn there will be the laying of wreaths. The ceremony is expected to last about 45 minutes.

Bells across Canada will be ringing out on Sunday in honour of the Armistice centenary and the establishment of the Royal Canadian Legion.

St. Barnabas Church will ring its bell 100 times starting at sunset, 4:43 p.m.

Traditionally, church bells were rung prior to church services and to announce anything important including weddings.

Bells went silent in Europe during the First World War but when the Armistice was signed bells rang out heralding the good news.

In many places throughout Europe bells will ring out again on Sunday at 11 a.m. marking the 100 anniversary of the end of the First World War. In Canada bells will ring out at sunset — The Bells of Peace — to honour not only the Armistice but the establishment of the Royal Canadian Legion.

About 619,636 Canadians enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and close to 424,000 served overseas during the First World War. Nearly 61,000 died during the war and 172,000 were wounded. Many returned home but were broken in mind and body.

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