Remembrance Day11th November 2025
"Every year people across the UK come
together to remember those who have died
in wars across the world.
Remembrance Day marks the day World War One ended - at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918. It is also known as Armistice Day.
Ceremonies also take place on the second Sunday in November - this is known as Remembrance Sunday.
This year Remembrance Sunday falls on 9 November.
Why do we mark Remembrance Day?
Remembrance Day began as a way to commemorate the end of World War One.
In the autumn of 1918, Germany was losing the war, and asked for an armistice, or end to the fighting.
At 11am on 11 November 1918, the armistice began.
The following year King George V asked the British public to observe a silence at 11am - to remember the moment the guns fell silent.
It became known as Armistice Day - a day to remember the end of WW1 and to remember the lives lost.
Today Armistice Day is used to remember all the people who have died in all wars since.
This year also marks 80 years since World War Two ended, in 1945. (...)
Why do people wear poppies?
From the end of October through to November, you may start seeing people wearing poppies and see poppy wreaths at memorials in towns and villages.
During World War One much of the land in France and Belgium that was fought on was churned up and destroyed by battle.
But one of the first plants to reappear were delicate red poppies, which grew on the soil and rubble.
The poppy became a symbol of loss and of hope - a reminder of the sacrifice made by those who died in war and hope for the future.(...)"
(It should not be forgotten)
"In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae
"In Flanders Fields"
was first published on December 8, 1915 in the London magazine Punch. It was written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae who was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium.
McCrae performed the burial service of his friend himself, where he noticed how poppies quickly grew around the simple graves of those who died.
The next day, he composed the poem while sitting in the back of an ambulance at an Advanced Dressing Station outside Ypres. This place has since become known as the John McCrae Memorial Site.
