LETTER: A quiet and thoughtful service

At this time of year, we approach the Sunday when, as a nation, we remember the sacrifices of so many servicemen and women in conflicts and theatres of war. '¨Up and down the country, remembrance services will take place in so many differing locations.

Most, if not all, will honour those lives given and most will give thanks of a religious nature, silently in prayer or by singing praises. 
Attendances at such services may well increase, this being the 100th anniversary of the battle of the Somme, when thousands made the ultimate sacrifice, the First World War then into its second year.

For the last nine years, a “different” service has been offered in the grounds of Mansfield’s Nottingham Road Cemetery and once again I invite all to attend this service focusing purely on those lives so brutally ended by war.

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There will be read out a roll-call of names. As this is a secular-based service, there is no “public” praise unless one wishes to offer such praise in one’s thoughts; there will be opportunity for all to be quiet and “thoughtful”. The words of the service will hopefully encourage all to offer personal homage to those fallen in all wars within living memory as one remembers the debt society owes them.

At the building and the memorial, we place wreaths that are within the immediate area of the graves of many fallen servicemen of the First World War. It is appropriate that we can be there, by kind permission of Mansfield District Council. 
The service commences at 10.45am in the cemetery chapel, Nottingham Road, Mansfield, on Sunday, November 13. Everyone whose everyday lives are lived with or without a faith will be made most welcome.

To add a name to the roll call, telephone 01623 555969, the home of the celebrant leading the service, or visit the cemetery office which is at the crematorium. 
Please offer as much information as you can. 
Thank you.

Donald B Sharpe

Retiring celebrant

British Humanist Association