Emotional remembrance event held in candlelit hush at Harrogate's Stonefall Cemetery

Royal Naval Reserve Dan Wilding RNR plays the last post at the Candlelit Christmas Remembrance event held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate. (Picture Tony Johnson)

An emotional Candlelit Christmas Remembrance has taken place at the Commonwealth War Graves at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate.

Members of the public were provided with battery-operated tealights to place on the graves of the fallen in the fading light, followed by a short service of Remembrance.

The now-annual event at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) site, where more than 1,000 Commonwealth casualties are buried, was originally inspired by Harrogate resident Benji Walker, who has a son serving in the Yorkshire Regiment.

Mr Walker used the Remembrance to fundraise for the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and Help for Heroes.

“I feel the event is as important today as it always was,” said Mr Walker.

"The Candlelit Christmas Remembrance is a chance for the local community to gather to remember the sacrifice of the hundreds of CWGC casualties buried at Stonefall, many of them thousands of miles from home.”

There was a poignant moment when Royal Naval Reserve Dan Wilding RNR played the last post.

CWGC Public Engagement Coordinator, Elizabeth Smith, said: “We’re grateful to what Benji has inspired. The Air Force plot at Stonefall Cemetery is incredible.”

Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery is one of the largest CWGC sites in the North of England with more than 1,000 Commonwealth war graves.

Most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established across Yorkshire.

More than 600 of the casualties served with the Royal Canadian Air Force and they include two 17-year-olds.

More information at www.cwgc.org