Commemorative events in St Neots culminated with beacon lighting

Commemorative events to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War have been described as “remarkable” by the mayor of St Neots.

Thousands of people in the town and surrounding villages attended remembrance servics and events, which culminated in a beacon lighting ceremoy on Regatta Meadow on Sunday evening.

Cllr Chapman said: “Crowds packed the town centre and there was standing room only at many of the church services. I was grateful to be part of the commemorations alongside thousands of other residents wishing to show their respects and my thanks go to all those who made extra efforts for the day and those who attended on such a poignant occasion.”

St Neots Town Council worked alongside the Royal British Legion and other groups to organise events on the day and the Royal Society of St George and the Eatons Community Association (ESCA) worked with the Armed Forces Covenant to display 30 ‘silhouettes of the fallen’ as part of the poignant national There but not There campaign.

Life size silhouettes were commissioned by the town council and one is standing in the town centre and the other at Eaton Socon.

A project to renovate the town’s Commonwealth War Graves was undertaken by the ESCA and funded by St Neots Town Council and Littlehey Prison inmates spent many weeks building a soldier of poppies to stand by the war memorial. High Street bus shelters were decorated with poppies and ‘Lest we Forget’.

St Neots Museum hosted an exhibition of Great War local history and organised local history walks. Permanent commemorative benches will soon be located on the Market Square.

St Neots was also part of the National Beacon of Light celebrations. Hundreds of people attended the lighting event and watched a firework display, which included a simulation of thousands of poppies in the sky over St Neots.

about him as though one day he would return.

“In commemoration and remembrance of the end of the war and the many millions who were killed or came home dreadfully wounded, 1000 Beacons of Light were lit a century after the guns fell silent,” added Cllr Chapman

“The beacons symbolise the ‘light of hope’ that emerged from the darkness of war.”