THE Deputy Mayor of Bradford on Avon, Cllr Alex Kay, led the civic dignitaries at a Remembrance Service on Sunday to lay a wreath at the foot of the town’s War Memorial.

Cllr Kay was standing in for the mayor, Cllr David Garwood, who because of ill health was unable to attend the solemn annual ceremony to commemorate the servicemen and women who lost their lives in two world wars and other conflicts.

Cllr Jim Lynch, a town and county councillor, laid a wreath on behalf of Wiltshire Council, to be followed by 27 others who laid wreaths on behalf of the town’s armed forces associations, schools, political groups, sports clubs, and other organisations.

The included the Royal Canadian Airforce and the Royal Airforce Volunteer Reserve, the Royal Engineers, the Suez Veterans Association, Wiltshire Police, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, Air Training Corps, scouts, guides, Lions Club, and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

The Last Post and the Reveille was played by trumpeter Braden Jukes, a pupil of St Laurence School. It was followed by the Lord’s Prayer, the National Anthem and the Blessing.

During the two-minute silence a Red Admiral butterfly fluttered down onto the steps of the War Memorial and road traffic was halted.

After the wreath-laying, members of the Women’s Institute in Bradford on Avon created a ‘Field of Poppies’ with 173 wooden crosses, each with a handcrafted poppy attached, in front of the war memorial to commemorate every man from the town whose life was lost while on active service.

Debbie Cheshire, the president of Bradford on Avon WI, said: “The wooden crosses and poppies have taken us a year to make and our installation has been funded with a grant from the town council.”

Earlier, the Rector of Holy Trinity Church, the Rev Canon Joanna Abecassis, had led a 30-minute Remembrance Service at the historic Saxon church, where the colours from each group were deposited before the high altar.

Cllr Alex Kay gave the reading before the address by Rev Canon Joanna Abecassis, who led the procession of colours and the congregation along the River Avon to the War Memorial in Westbury Gardens, where over 200 people had gathered to watch.

Elsewhere, a group of people from West Wiltshire travelled to Belgium with Bradford on Avon-based travel agents Holidays & Cruises to lay wreaths at the Remembrance Service ceremony at the Menin Gate War Memorial in Ypres, which was attended by HRH Princess Anne, representing the Queen.

They included Christine Steele from Bradford on Avon, Maurice Farrell from Melksham, Trevor Jones from Chippenham. Steve Plummer, from Holidays & Cruises laid a wreath, as did Louella Curtis from Bradford on Avon Royal Air Force Air Cadets.

Steve said: “We also got to meet Princess Anne at the Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves cemetery for the First World War dead at Ypres, which was an added bonus for the group.”