Trevor Sturgess DL inspecting the County Standard Bearers. (c) Barry Duffield.
The sun shone warmly on the first Royal British Legion County Parade and Service to be held in a renewed memorial garden.
The Royal British Legion Industries’ Garden of Honour, in the Royal British Legion Village, Aylesford, proved an inspiring venue for this special annual commemoration.
County Standards and members of Kent Army Cadets who took part in the parade. (c) Barry Duffield.
Gravesend Borough Band played from the new Bandstand as the Royal British Colours were paraded across a large paved area with a poppy motif as its centrepiece.
Revd Chris van Straaten, padre to the Royal British Legion Village Branch, led the service, while Canon Revd Paul Kerr, County Padre to the Royal British Legion, Kent, gave the address.
Trevor Sturgess DL reading one of the lessons. (c) Barry Duffield.
Trevor Sturgess, Deputy Lieutenant representing the Lord-Lieutenant of Kent, read the first lesson, while Cllr Owen Baldock MIET, Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling, and Cllr Leyland Ridings MBE JP, read the other lessons.
Revd van Straaten led the Act of Remembrance, while Cllr Leyland Ridings recited the Exhortation.
Two minutes’ silence followed The Last Post, after which Brigadier (Retired) Tony Kerr OBE recited The Kohima Epitaph. “When you go home, tell them of us and say: For your tomorrow, we gave our today.”
Veterans, serving officers, cadets and Royal British Legion members and friends from across Kent and beyond, attended the moving service that concluded with the National Anthem.
Barry Duffield, Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, photographed the event for local media and for this website.
