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Armistice Day at London Paddington Station

Posted by (Lake District, England) on

Tomorrow, Monday, a series of 10 normal passenger trains (beginning with the Night Riviera Sleeper) will bring poppy wreaths from all parts of the GWR network to London Paddington station.

They will be laid in a service of remembrance at 10.45am at the Great Western Railway (the original GWR) war memorial on Platform 1.

At least in Devon and Cornwall they will be loaded by members of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) in a brief ceremony at each station.

This modern tradition started in 2020 when Covid restrictions inhibited in person attendance, but was so well received that the tradition grows each year.

Posted by
8989 posts

I attended Remembrance Sunday Service at Plymouth this morning. I found it very moving. My great-uncle’s name is inscribed on the Navy Memorial there. His ship went down in 1917.

The British commemorations far outshine any I have experienced in the US. If you are visiting in the UK and can attend any remaining ceremonies, I highly encourage it.

Posted by
10426 posts

Thanks for this information, Stuart. I had no idea - and that sounds very moving.

Carol, that's wonderful that you were able to attend the service in Plymouth and honor your great-uncle.

Posted by
8493 posts

I have just seen the GWR facebook post of the event- a total of 319 wreaths were brought to London on these trains, one ("the first of the many") from the Isles of Scilly conveyed to Penzance on the Scillonian III ferry, thence on the Night Riviera Sleeper.

Afterwards that wreath was then taken to the Merchant Naval Memorial at Tower Hill, in memory of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company service in WW2 conveying around 40,000 troops to and from the islands- https://www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk/2020/11/war-time-on-the-isles-of-scilly-a-lifetime-of-lifeline-service/

In the week or so before being taken to London that wreath had toured the islands.

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