Beacon lighting will launch Thame’s Armistice commemorations

AS part of the commemoration of the centenary of the Armistice of World War One, there will be a series of special events and projects taking place in Thame.

As part of the national Beacon Lighting event, a Beacon will be lit at the Thame War Memorial at 7pm on Sunday, November 11, 2018. At 6.55pm the Last Post will be played there just before, followed by a ringing out of peace by the Church Bells. ring out for peace. This will be followed by music through the decades, starting with familiar songs from the First World War.

In partnership with the Thame Remembers project, poppies are to be displayed in the windows of houses in the town from which servicemen left to serve in World War One. The poppies, coloured by primary school children and members of the Scouts and Guides, will carry details of the servicemen. The centre will be coloured black in remembrance or white to denote their safe return home.

As part of the Trees of Remembrance Project, a partnership between Oxfordshire County Council and The Woodlands Trust, a tree sapling is to be planted at Southern Road Recreation Ground on its boundary with Cuttlebrook, and marked with a Commemorative Plaque.

Silhouettes will be placed in the churches of Thame and at the Memorial Gardens (at the Service of Remembrance) as part of the national ‘There but Not There’ project and a life size ‘Tommy’ will be installed at the Memorial Gardens during the National Poppy Appeal as part of the Royal British Legion’s ‘Thank you’ project.

A temporary art installation titled ‘Living Monument’ which will consists of 130 portraits of men currently living in Thame and the surrounding areas, will be placed at the site of the old station platform along the Phoenix Trail, representing each of the individuals who went off to fight in WW1.