Battle’s Over – A Nation’s Tribute
Cathedral of St John, Chapel Street, Salford, M3 5LESunday 11th November 2018
Salford Cathedral is proud to be part of Battle’s Over – commemorating 100 years since the end of WWI
It is joining with the other Cathedrals of England and Wales for a nationwide Day of Commemorative Events marking the Centenary of the end of the First World War. The organisers of Battle’s Over want to use the day to pay tribute to the millions killed or wounded in battle, and also remember those on the home front who endured loss.
Battle’s Over takes place on November 11 2018, with events throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, and at locations overseas, including New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, Bermuda, France, Belgium, Canada, the United States and Germany.
To mark this important event, there will be a number of special services taking place in the Cathedral throughout the day:
It begins at 6am with a ‘lone’ Piper will play ‘Battle’s O’er,’ a traditional air played by pipers after a battle, providing a unique ‘tribute’ to the many millions that either died or returned home wounded during or after this dreadful War. This will be just one of 1,000 bagpipes filling the air in cities and towns throughout the land, before dawn has broken on the 11th November.
6.15am -Office of readings and Morning Prayer of the Church
11.00am – Solemn High Mass – beginning with a two-minute silence
6.30pm – Solemn Vespers
6.55pm—The Last Post, buglers will sound the Last Post at more than 1,000 locations, where at 7pm WW1 Beacons of Light will be lit in a tribute signifying the light of peace that emerged from the darkness of four years of war.
The day will end at 7.05pm where the bell of Salford Cathedral will ring out for 15 minutes, along with bells in over 1,000 churches and cathedrals throughout the land, in celebration of the end of the First World War and in commemoration of the millions that either died or returned home dreadfully wounded, during or after the war ended on 11th November 1918.
A special exhibition launched in November 2017, which is dedicated to the approximate 8,000 men from the Diocese of Salford who sacrificed their lives during the Great War, is still on display in the Cathedral until Remembrance Sunday 2018.
Situated in the north transept of the cathedral, is the War Memorial Chapel, where the names and initials of 663 men who died during the War are inscribed on eight white marble tablets. Three of these tablets contain the names of 107 men who at that time were members of various conferences of the St Vincent de Paul Society throughout the Diocese.
