Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday
11 November 2007
The striking new Armed Forces Memorial (AFM) formed the focus of the Remembrance service and attracted an amazing 6000 visitors on Remembrance Sunday. The NMA's chaplain, Reverend Simon Lumby, led the service in the centre of the Armed Forces Memorial, which was followed by a march past. The service also featured music from the West Midlands Police Band and the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers Band and a flypast by the RAF.
The sun came out at exactly the right time to showcase one of the most stunning features of the AFM – at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, a shaft of sunlight fell across the sculpted wreath.
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield, commented: "This was one of the most moving Remembrance ceremonies I have ever attended. At 11am, the sun suddenly shone and cast a vivid shaft of light through slits in the two outer walls of the Memorial and illuminated the wreath at the centre. But it was later when a family all in tears - an older lady, a mother, and two young children - laid a wreath on behalf of a recently fallen son, husband and father that many of us felt the most moved. I saw tears running down the face of a senior naval officer."
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| Michael Fabricant, MP for Lichfield, laying a wreath | Piper Brian Ferris at the Remembrance Sunday service |
