Remembrance 2021: List of services in Dewsbury, Batley, Mirfield and Cleckheaton

A week of commemorations will be held in Cleckheaton, starting on Saturday, November 6 when the ladies’ section of the Spenborough branch of the Royal British Legion will hold a coffee morning at Cleckheaton Methodist Church from 10am until 12pm.

On Monday, November 8, the Garden of Remembrance outside Cleckheaton Town Hall will be opened at 10.45am.

People are invited to place crosses in the garden and pay their personal respects to the fallen.

On Thursday, November 11 an Armistice Day service will take place in Cleckheaton Memorial Park at 10.45am.

Between 200 and 300 children from various schools around the Spen Valley will attend, as will the Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire.

There will be hymns, prayers and the chimes from Big Ben at 11am, followed by a minute’s silence.

On Remembrance Sunday, November 14, the parade will set off from Cleckheaton Town Hall at 2pm, making its way to the town’s memorial park for a wreath-laying ceremony.

The parade, led by Emley Band, will then make its way to St John’s Church for a Remembrance service.

Tea, coffee and refreshments will be served after all the events during the week.

David Walker, secretary of the Spenborough branch of the Royal British Legion, hopes this year’s commemorations will be well supported.

He said: “These events are for the benefit of the people of Spenborough to help them to remember the sacrifices that people have made in the past.

“We must never forget them.”

In Batley, the Remembrance Sunday parade will gather outside the town hall, on Market Place, at 10am.

It will set off at 10.20am, making its way around the town centre before arriving in the memorial garden for a service at 10.45am.

The service will include the dedication of a new plaque on the town’s war memorial featuring names of soldiers that have been added this year, thanks to a research project by Batley History Group.

In Birstall, there will be a short service in the memorial garden in front of the library at 11am.

In the afternoon, the parade will set off from outside the library at 2pm, making its way to St Patrick’s Church for a service at 2.15pm.

Afterwards, the parade will reform and march to St Peter’s Church for a wreath-laying ceremony.

Peter Brierley, secretary of the Batley and Birstall branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “We are hoping that we can get a big turnout because last year there was only a very small service due to Covid.”

On November 27, the branch is hosting a veterans’ get-together at the RAFA Club in Batley from 2-5pm.

All veterans are invited to attend.

Dewsbury minster is preparing for what is traditionally its biggest service of the year on Remembrance Sunday.

Rev Simon Cash, Team Rector at the Minster, said the church is often packed at this time of year for the annual commemorations.

Following a year when many events did not take place, or were much scaled back, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rev Cash feels many people will be keen to attend and pay their respects.

This year’s commemorations in Dewsbury begin on Thursday, November 11, with a short service of Remembrance at the memorial on Longcauseway, starting just before 11am.

There will be a two-minute silence, followed by prayers and wreath-laying in the garden of remembrance.

On Remembrance Sunday, November 14, the parade will set off from outside Dewsbury Town Hall at 10.20am, heading across to the Minster for a service at 10.30am.

After the service, the parade will head to Longcauseway for wreath-laying.

Following this, refreshments will be served at the town hall.

Rev Cash will also join the civic party and mayor’s representative to lay wreaths at the war memorial in Crow Nest Park and at Dewsbury Cemetery.

In addition, a short service of Remembrance will be held at Earlsheaton Park on Sunday, November 14 at 10.45am.

In Mirfield, there will be a gathering in Ings Grove Park on November 11 at 11am to mark Armistice Day.

On Remembrance Sunday, the parade will assemble on Lowlands Road at 1.30pm before marching off at 2pm.

The parade will head to Ings Grove Park for the Remembrance service before returning to Lowlands Road for dismissal.