Commemorative Service 7th July 2019
A COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE WHICH WILL BE HELD IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST CUTHBERT, LOTHIAN ROAD, EDINBURGH ON SUNDAY 7 JULY 2019.
The service will commemorate the sacrifice made by men from the City of Edinburgh and surrounding towns who volunteered to join the 16th Royal Scots at the battalion’s momentous Usher Hall recruiting launch in November 1914. Three quarters of these volunteers were killed or wounded near the village of Contalmaison on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
At the end of the service a poppy wreath in memory of those who died will be uplifted and piped out of the church. Those attending the service are invited to follow the wreath-bearer and piper up Lothian Road to the McCrae’s Battalion commemorative plaque on the steps of the Usher Hall in McCrae’s Place, where the wreath will be placed and dedicated.
This Act of Remembrance at the Usher Hall will occur annually in years to come on the Sunday nearest to 1 July.
ALL ARE WELCOME TO THIS COMMUNITY EVENT, so please feel free to display or pass on this notice of the service to your friends.
After the ceremony, you are invited to return to the Lindisfarne Room of St Cuthbert’s (at approximately 13.00) for refreshments and a chance to view photographs/footage of the Remembrance Ceremony held on 1 July in the French village of Contalmaison.
john Dalgleish
Secretary
McCraes Battalion Trust
Organised by McCrae’s Battalion Trust supported by OASIS (an outreach of St Cuthbert’s Church) in partnership with business matters and Work Place Chaplaincy Scotland.
