Bramley plans tribute to First World War fallen

Bramley will have a special sculpture and a community event in November to mark the 100th anniversary of the conflict ending, as well as a Remembrance Day church service.

All of the soldiers from the area are also being remembered in the Advertiser’s District News column for Bramley where three of the fallen are being named each week until November.

Bramley Parish Council is organising the events with backing from a number of local organisations, and groups in the community are making poppies.

The scouts and guides will be making poppies from the bases of red plastic drinks bottles which will be attached to the railings along the A631 road through Bramley. The plastic will later be recycled.

Poppies will also be produced by the summer holiday youth club at the Flash Lane Youth Centre and members of the church craft group and Townswomen’s Guild will be knitting and crocheting them.

A poppy-making session was also held at the King Henry Pub last week to help with the drive for floral tributes.

A commemoration event will be held at St Francis’ Church on Main Street from 6pm on Saturday, November 10, at which Bramley Sunnyside School Choir will sing wartime songs and read poems, with scouts and guides joining in and reading extracts from soldiers’ diaries.

Donations will be collected for a forces charity.

Two to 11-year-olds from MINT \_ Motivating Inspiring Nurturing Talent, run by Bramley Performing Arts Academy \_ will perform a sketch based on the popular TV show Horrible Histories in the parish hall on the same morning.

On Sunday, November 11, there will be a service in St Francis’ Church with a march by Bramley Brass Band to the cenotaph.

A beacon which has been burning outside the parish hall since 2014 will be extinguished.

A five foot six inch tall Tommy soldier sculpture — the average height of a World War One soldier \_— will be erected in the memorial garden on Cross Street.

Bramley and Wickersley Lions Club will be helping out at the commemorative event and the Remembrance service.

A week earlier, Bramley Working Men’s Club, on Cross Street, will hold an event to remember the fallen. Local businesses have also voiced their support.

Bramley parish council member Carol Makin said: “It’s a community event and it’s lovely.

“It’s amazing how the village has latched on.  It seems to be bringing the whole community together.”