Glenfield Parish Council

Your chance to pay your personal and community tribute to those millions that gave their lives for their country during the dreadful darkness of four years of War 1914 - 1918

On 3rd August 1914, Britain's Foreign Minister, Sir Edward Grey, was looking out of his office window. It was dusk, and the gas lights were being lit along London's Mall, leading to Buckingham Palace, when he remarked to a friend, "The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." Our country was about to be plunged into the darkness of the First World War, and it would be four long years before Britain and Europe would again experience the light of peace.

In commemoration and remembrance of the end of the war and the many millions who were killed or came home dreadfully wounded, 1000 Beacons of Light will be lit at 7.00 pm on 11th November 2018 throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories - a century after the guns fell silent. The event will also commemorate the huge army of men and women on the home front who, often in dangerous and exhausting conditions, underpinned the war effort - keeping the wheels of industry turning, bringing the harvests home to ensure the nation did not starve.

Glenfield Parish Council will be lighting a beacon in Ellis Park on Sunday 11 November 2018. Doors open at 2.30 pm with an exhibition in both Park House, Stamford Street and also in the Memorial Hall. Stamford Street. The WI "land girls" will be serving refreshments from 3.00 pm in the Memorial Hall (hot soup, tea, coffee and "trench cake"). From 6.00 pm you can enter Ellis Park through our mock trench to the site of the beacon lighting where you can listen and join in to the Glenfield Co-op Choir singing songs from WW1. A short service conducted by the Rector of St Peter's Church will follow and the well-known poem "In Flanders Field" will be read. LED tea lights will be provided and the "Last Post" will be played at 6.55 pm before our honoured guest who was awarded the Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur – the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits) will light the beacon to symbolise the light of hope that emerged from the darkness of war, and as tribute to mark the end of World War One. A lone piper will then play "Battle's O'er".

Please come along to support this free event in the village. Everyone is welcome, all ages, whether you live in the village or elsewhere. We very much look forward to seeing you. » Less