Armistice Day
The Armistice which brought the fighting to an end in World War One came into effect precisely at 11.00am on 11 November 1918. A Two Minute Silence, to remember all those who had made the ultimate sacrifice in that War was first observed in 1919. The same event, essentially, continues today across the nation at 11.00am on 11 November each year – Armistice Day.

The success of The Royal British Legion's campaign to maintain the Two Minute Silence on Armistice Day - at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - demonstrates the nation's concern that the human cost of war should not be forgotten. More than three quarters of the population usually pause for the Two Minute Silence. It has become the biggest annual demonstration of public support for any cause in the country.

Each year a modest group of people, led by members of the Royal British Legion, gather at the Town War Memorial in Broad Street for a simple ceremony of Remembrance. It is led by the Town Mayor and the Honorary Chaplain to the Stamford Branch of the Legion who begins with a short prayer, followed by the RBL Exhortation, the Last Post, Two Minute Silence, Reveille, and the Kohima. The ceremony concludes with another short prayer.

The Exhortation
"They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them."

The Kohima Epitaph
‘When you go home,
Tell them of us and say -
For their tomorrow
We gave our today.”

The Royal British Legion believes that it is important that children understand why we remember and the sacrifices which have been made so that we can all enjoy the freedoms we have today. A special feature of Armistice Day in Stamford therefore is the participation of schoolchildren. Several schools bring parties of their children to the Service, where they lay wreaths which they have made in class