Remembrance 2019 - Here's everything you need to know about services in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon

Harrogate Round Table thanks town for its support after difficult year for fundraising at Stray bonfire

Residents, community groups and businesses in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough have stepped up to produce displays made up of thousands of knitted poppies, in an effort that has been praised as a strong and powerful visual tribute to the fallen.

A centrepiece of Harrogate’s displays is the frontage of the Yorkshire Hotel, which has been strikingly decorated with hundreds of cascading poppies.

The Mayor of the Borough of Harrogate, Coun Stuart Martin, who has coordinated Harrogate and Ripon’s poppy projects with Hazel Barker, said the level of community response has been overwhelming.

He said: “I am really looking forward to laying a wreath in Harrogate, and I am really pleased that the community has got together and made all of the poppies, it’s fantastic.

“It looks a lot more respectful around the war memorial than in previous years, it’s something to build on in the future as well. People gave their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedom we have today, so it’s only right and proper that we pay our respects in the best way we can.”

Harrogate town centre’s Remembrance service at the war memorial starts at 10.50am on Sunday, with the Harrogate Band performing from 10.20am as crowds start to gather. Wreaths will be laid by community groups and dignitaries after the two-minute silence at 11am.

This will then be followed by a service at St Peter’s Church at 11.30am. This year’s Remembrance parade sets off from Albert Street just after 10.35am, and arrives at the war memorial just before the war memorial service starts.

Shock as popular Harrogate nightclub is set to closeThe parade resumes at 11.15am. Organised by the Rotary Club of Harrogate Brigantes, Sunday’s Stonefall Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery Remembrance service starts at 1pm, but members have requested members of the public to be there for 12.30pm.

Later on in the day, Starbeck’s service starts at 3pm. A parade of community groups will walk from Starbeck Methodist Church and up the High Street to the war memorial, setting off at 2.40pm.

The organiser of Starbeck’s commemorations, Sarah Rowntree, said: “The community of Starbeck comes together every year to remember - the elderly who lived through the Second World War, children who march in the parade, people who have been part of this community all their lives, and families who are new to Starbeck. We all remember.”

Ripon’s Remembrance service on Sunday will be held at the Spa Gardens, starting at 10.50am. Following the service, soldiers from the 21 Engineer Regiment will parade through the city and take a salute from the Mayoral party outside the Town Hall.

In Knaresborough, there will be a Remembrance service at St John’s Church, starting at 9.30am, followed by a parade to the war memorial, where there will be a short service starting at 10.55am.

Plan to turn pub into convenience store and homesIn Pannal, a Remembrance service at the Methodist Church starts at 10am, and the service at St Robert’s Church starts at 9.15am. A service at the Memorial Hall will take place on Monday, starting several minutes before 11am.