29/08/2018
LOCAL MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION (SCOTLAND) TO REPRESENT CASTLE DOUGLAS AT WW1 COMEMMORATIONS IN BELGIUM
Branch Chairman Ian Munro and Branch Standard Bearer Jackie Crawford will travel to Europe for The Royal British Legion’s Great Pilgrimage 90. 5-9th August 2018
PRESS REALESE
Members of the Castle Douglas Branch of The Royal British Legion (Scotland) are to join thousands on a pilgrimage of Remembrance to World War One battlefield that culminates in a parade and ceremony in Ypres as part of the end of the First World War centenary commemorations this August.
The Royal British Legion event, known as Great Pilgrimage 90 (GP90), takes place between the 5th and 9th of August and will be one of the largest in the charity’s history.
GP90 will mark 90 years since the original Royal British Legion Pilgrimage in 1928, which saw 11,000 World War One veterans and war widows visit the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium, a decade after the conflict ended.
That Pilgrimage culminated in a march through Ypres to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Menin Gate Memorial for a ceremony to commemorate the launch of The Hundred Days Offensive and in remembrance of those who never returned.
Local Legion members, Ian Munro and Jackie Crawford will represent the Castle Douglas Branch and the local community at the event, as Wreath Layer and Standard Bearer respectively.
Ian and Jackie will tour some of the same battlefields and cemeteries visited by those on the 1928 Pilgrimage, before marching along the original route through Ypres, to the Menin Gate on the 8th August, bearing their branch standard and a wreath.
They will join more than 2,200 other Legion representatives and dignitaries, including Civic and military guests from the UK, Commonwealth and Northern Europe who are taking part. Once at the Menin Gate, Ian Munro will lay a wreath on behalf of the Castle Douglas community.
Alan Murray, the President of the Castle Douglas Branch of The Royal British Legion (Scotland), comments: “Great Pilgrimage 90 is a unique opportunity for the Legion community to come together and bear our Standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of the First World War. The Castle Douglas Branch looks forward to proudly representing Scotland at the event.”
As local champions of Remembrance, the Castle Douglas Branch of The Royal British Legion (Scotland) is looking to work in partnership with their community to bring their unique Remembrance message to the Menin Gate, on their wreath, where it will be displayed in a wreath installation for viewing by the general public until the end of August.
The parade will start at midday and we encourage the public to make the trip across to Ypres for the 8th August and fill the Market Square to watch the parade, Hundred Days
Offensive ceremony and then enjoy an afternoon of musical entertainment including The Central Band of the Royal British Legion.
If you want to find out more about GP90 or your local Royal British Legion (Scotland) branch, then please visit Legion Scotland website or contact the local club on 01556 504499
