The leaders of both governments of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be attending the main Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen today.
The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny fulfils his commitment to attend the Enniskillen ceremony once again for the fifth consecutive year, and will join the First Minister, Arlene Foster at the Cenotaph.
They will be accompanied by The American Consul General, Daniel J. Lawton, as well as representatives of the Northern Ireland Office, Kris Hopkins MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Tuesday past marked the 29th anniversary of the Enniskillen Remembrance Day bomb. The government and diplomatic leaders will be welcomed by Her Majesty’s Lieutenant for Fermanagh, Viscount Brookeborough.
This year’s Remembrance Sunday events will be a particularly poignant one for many families as this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Following the wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Belmore Street, the procession of government officials and those representing the Royal British Legion, Regimental and Old Comrades Associations as well as emergency services, statutory, community and youth organisations will move to St. Macartin’s Cathedral, for the Remembrance Service, conducted by Dean Kenneth Hall. The preacher will be the Bishop of Clogher, the Right Rev. John McDowell and Monsignor Peter O’Reilly from St. Michael’s Church will also take part in the service. The representatives of all four governments will be taking part in the service.
Ballyreagh Silver Band will again be in attendance, providing music at the Cenotaph and a bugler will sound the Last Post.
Remembrance parades and services will be taking place across the country. One of the biggest services outside Enniskillen will be in Irvinestown where wreaths will be placed on the graves of airmen killed while based at RAF Castle Archdale. At Fivemiletown, people will be gathering around their new war memorial adjacent to the Royal British Legion Hall.
Other ceremonies will be taking place in Lisnaskea, Brookeborough, Ballinamallard and Pettigo. There will also be events in the neighbouring counties of the Republic. The Inniskilling Dragoons Regimental Association have been invited to Belturbet while other Regimental Associations will be attending the usual cross-border event at Cootehill.
A poppy from the Tower of London is to be presented in Arva Church of Ireland, Cavanon Remembrance Sunday in memory of a Somme veteran.
Myra Elizabeth Curtis from Irvinestown will make the presentation at 11.30am this Sunday in memory of her granduncle, William Francis Curtis, who died at the Somme in July 1916.