Royal Marines Band to play Last Post at CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial
A performance of the Last Post will take place at the stunning Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Plymouth Naval Memorial every Friday at 6pm until Friday November 17.
The Royal Marines Band Plymouth, along with the 6 RIFLES Band, will be part of the service and the CWGC are inviting people in Plymouth to come along.
The Act of Remembrance will start with a bugler playing the Last Post, followed by a reading of the Laurence Binyon exhortation For the Fallen and a minute’s silence. The bugler will then play the Reveille.
The performance coincides with the presentation of Poppies: Wave at the CWGC memorial. The sculpture, by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper, will be open to the public at the memorial until 19 November as part of a UK-wide tour by 14-18 NOW.
It is the first time the sculpture has been fixed to a monument dedicated to remembering the war dead of the two world wars. Volunteers trained by the CWGC will be on hand from 10am to 6pm everyday to tell the story of the poppies, the CWGC and its memorial.
The iconic poppy sculpture Wave is part of the UK-wide tour organised by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary.
Over the next three months, free events have been organised by Plymouth City Council and the CWGC in response to the poppies coming to the town. More information can be found on the CWGC website.
The CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial was built and is maintained by the Commission to commemorate almost 7,300 servicemen and women of the First World War who have no known grave but the sea.
In addition to commemorating seamen of the Royal Navy who sailed from Plymouth, the First World War panels also bear the names of sailors from Australia and South Africa.
The CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer with sculpture by Henry Poole, and it was unveiled by HRH Prince George on 29 July 1924. It is situated centrally on The Hoe, which looks directly towards Plymouth Sound, and it is accessible at all times.
Wave is one of two sculptures taken from the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red – poppies and original concept by artist Paul Cummins and installation designed by Tom Piper. The installation was originally at HM Tower of London in 2014 where 888,246 poppies were displayed, one for every British or Colonial life lost at the Front during the First World War. The installation was by Paul Cummins Ceramics Limited in conjunction with Historic Royal Palaces.
The presentations by 14-18 NOW, gives people across the UK the chance to experience the impact of the ceramic poppy sculptures in a range of places of particular First World War resonance. So far, the poppies have been seen on tour by more than 2.7 million people.
