An estimated 3,000 people gathered at the War Memorial in Spa Gardens and along Ripon’s ancient streets and Market Place, as the city paid its respects this morning to the fallen of two world wars and other conflicts
Wreaths were laid as Andrew Cowie, president of the Ripon Branch of the Royal British Legion (pictured below, left), read out almost 400 local names from Akers to Young, who gave their lives in the service of this country.
Deputy Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Richard Compton, representing King Charles III and Mayor Councillor Sid Hawke representing the city, were among the first to put wreaths in place.
Later, they took the salute outside the town hall (pictured above) as Ripon City Band led the march past along Market Place South and down Kirkgate to the cathedral, where a civic service of remembrance, attended by members of the city council and other dignitaries, was held.
The service was led by the Bishop of Ripon, the Rt Revd. Anna Eltringham, who had earlier been with the Dean of Ripon the Very Revd John Dobson and Canon Matthew Pollard, for the Remembrance Sunday prayers and hymns in Spa Gardens.
Ripon’s Royal Engineers (pictured above) who have had the Freedom of the City since 1949, were among the service personnel, Air Cadets, Army Cadets and members of uniformed organisations who took part in the parade.
Main picture: The Mayor of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke, laid a wreath on behalf of the city at this morning’s Remembrance Service at Ripon War Memorial.
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Poppy Appeal boost for Ripon’s Royal British Legion
The Ripon branch of the Royal British Legion has received a £1,000 donation from the city council.
In a year when fundraising initiatives for the Poppy Appeal have been scaled back, Jeet Bahadur Sahi, chair of the Legion’s Ripon branch, said it welcomed the donation “with open arms”.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“We greatly appreciate this support from the council, as our selling of poppies this year is necessarily having to be on a much smaller scale than in normal years.”
The money is from the council’s events budget. Council leader Andrew Williams, said:
“We decided that the money we had set aside for the Remembrance Sunday service, which cannot go ahead, should be given to the Royal British Legion.”
Mr Sahi, who served as a Gurkha for 22 years and has been chair of the Royal British Legion Ripon branch since 2013, said the coronavirus crisis prevented the Army Cadets, scouts and Air Force Cadets from collecting on the streets this year and there would be no stall on the market.
The appeal has, in recent years, raised up to £20,000 but this year’s fundraising efforts will rely heavily on people buying poppies from the city’s supermarkets.
Cllr Eamon Parkin, Mayor of Ripon.
Although fundraising activities have been disrupted, acts of remembrance will still be held in a safe and limited way.
At 11am on Saturday, October 31, standard bearers will be at the Royal British Legion garden of remembrance, which opened next to Ripon Cathedral in 2018 after a successful fundraising campaign headed by Mr Sahi and supported by Econ Engineering.
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After the ground is blessed by clergy from the cathedral, members of the public will be able to place small wooden crosses near the plinth.
Cllr Parkin said:
“I hope people will be as generous as possible when buying their poppy in this difficult year for all charities.”
This year, the Ripon Community Poppy Project, run by local residents Hazel Barker, Carol Dunkley and Cllr Stuart Martin, will again see knitted poppies put on display at prime locations in the city, in the run up to Remembrance Sunday and a few days beyond.