A SPECIAL closed-door service with wreath-laying will be screened online as part of an “imaginative” plan to ensure Barnard Castle residents can commemorate this year's Remembrance Sunday.
The service will be pre-recorded on Saturday, November 7, with representatives of Barnard Castle Town Council, the police and other uniformed organisations present.
It will then be screened through social media channels before the traditional two-minute silence at 11am the next day.
Revd Canon Alec Harding said: “We in the situation where we can’t encourage large numbers of people to mingle so we need to come up with an imaginative plan to ensure Remembrance Sunday can be observed.”
Normally Remembrance Day events attract large crowds of up to about 700 people in Barnard Castle, with those who wish to pay their respects attending church services or gathering at the cenotaph in the grounds of The Bowes Museum.
This year coronavirus restrictions mean large gatherings are prohibited, so arrangements have been made for a digital service to be aired.
He added: “There is no way we can come close to having those numbers and so the church will be locked throughout Sunday.
“A ceremony will be filmed in church and then available online on the Sunday morning – we hope through the church, town council and Teesdale Mercury social media pages.
“The major [Cllr John Blissett] uniformed organisations and chairs of the town council committees will lay wreaths on behalf of the wider community organisations, assisted by the Scouts and Guides. A quartet from Barnard Castle band will provide music, including the Last Post.”
A display in church will be created around a large parade ground cross left to the church by the armed forces when the last camps in the area closed.
The cross will be raised on a plinth, covered by poppies knitted in the town, and surround edby the standards of the local uniformed organisations.”
Remembrance prayers leaflets have been created for those who cannot access the remembrance ceremony digitally and a special poster has been designed for people to place near their front doors after the two-minute
silence.
Mr Harding said: “We are providing care homes with Remembrance prayers and through our email channels but our concerns are for those who don’t have computers or access to the internet.
“We will have copies available in the porch at the church but would ask everyone to print them for those who do not have the equipment.”
“The wreaths will be transferred to the cenotaph at some point on Remembrance Sunday.
“We are not announcing the time the wreaths will be transferred in case we get a crowd gathering, but it does not mean people can’t go there and put their own wreaths.”
