Sheffield City Hall hosted its 105th Remembrance Sunday service, where the public gathered for 2 minutes of silence to remember those who had fallen in war.
Veterans, the British Armed Forces, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force laid wreaths at the Sheffield War Memorial, known as the Cenotaph, to bugles playing the Last Post.
Military personnel, veterans, and civilians alike paid their respects, wearing poppies, a symbol of remembrance, in a powerful testament to the collective gratitude for those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom.
John Rollands studied Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield University, an ex-major in the Royal Engineers and served in Afghanistan and Iraq, told the Steel Speaker: “This is all about remembering people who served before us, who have given their lives for the country and for freedom.
“It’s important for us to see our old comrades and to catch up. After the parade, each year, I always head back up to the squadron I commanded and we have lunch there and another wreath laying as well”
The city centre fell silent at 11 am after bells were rung from the council building, and the public reflected on their own connections to war.
Adrian Simmons, who represented the Sheffield Royal Corp of Signals said: “For me, today is about remembering the friends and comrades who suffered in the wars. I’ve always been to every remembrance Sunday since I was eight years old.
“I always think about my grandad who was a prisoner of war during the Second World War, which is why I’m proudly wearing his medals on the right side of my chest.
“It is so important for people to remember, especially people like myself, who suffered in wars and came back from them. I served in Bosnia for 12 months and I came back, some of my comrades didn’t.
“But it is also important to remember the civies because many of them ended up in mass graves as a result of that war, and many others.”
In 2023, the Remembrance Sunday follows one day after Armistice day, on Saturday the 11th of November, which specifically honoured the signing of a ceasefire on the 11th hour, on the 11th day, in 1919.
Graham Rithe, served 43 years and worked with the Sheffield University Officers’ Training Corps said: “Remembrance Sunday is important for everybody, and it’s good for the men who had served to look back together and remember all the sacrifices that have been made for us to be where we are today.
“It’s a good thing to reunite with the people whom we severed with, who we never really get to see.”
