Remembering the fallen

St John the Baptist Church,Hey candlelit vigil for WW1. (l-r) Cllr Bill Cullen Chair Consort and Cllr Enid Firth Chair of Saddleworth Council,Rev Stephen Nolan,Mayor and Mayoress Fida and Tanvir Hussain,Capt The Rev Paul Robinson and Rev Canon Richard Hawkins.

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A SINGLE candle burned brightly as Oldham remembers the fallen on the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

A moving service, at St John the Baptist Church in Lees, saw the Rev Stephen Nolan speak of Oldham’s contribution to the war and urge the congregation to pay their respects today — the day the conflict started in 1914.

Members of the Royal British Legion and the Liaison of Ex-Servicemen formed a guard of honour as young and old united at the service.

Oldhamers can pay their respects across the borough today as events are held to mark the anniversary.

In Hollinwood, the names on the war memorial at St Margaret’s Church will be read out at 7.30pm during a solemn requiem mass for the war dead.

Meanwhile, John Fidler will give a lecture on how the first five months of the war affected those who joined the armed forces and those who were left behind, today at 7pm at the Oldham Archives Centre in Union Street.

At Christ Church in Block Lane, Chadderton, everyone is welcome to attend a memorial service to hear the names of Chadderton residents who made the ultimate sacrifice between 1914-18.

Led by vicar John Simmons, visitors will gather around the church’s First World War stained-glass window at 7pm.

In Uppermill, people gathered in the Museum Gardens at 10am for a special service attended by members of the British Legion and conducted by Rev John Rosedale, former squadron leader and military chaplain.

Candles will be lit and poems will be read out as well as names of those from Saddleworth villages that died during the conflict.

Across the country, householders and businesses are asked to switch their lights off between 10-11pm to remember those who fought and died. A single light will be left on in the 14th floor of Oldham Civic Centre to mark the event.

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