Witney Town Council’s D-Day 80th Anniversary Commemorations
The commemorations will commence at 9 am when Witney’s Town Crier will proclaim the nation’s official cry from an upstairs window of the Corn Exchange.
Throughout the day (from 11am – 6pm) there will be a display of documents and pictures which form a timeline of events in the Corn Exchange – Gallery Room. It will be accompanied by an immersive playlist of news reports and soundbites of the time along with narratives from individuals who took part in various ways. Entry is free.
We currently have a very small display of books and posters in one of the windows of the Admin Office and the star of this particular display is a green parachute.
The Big Screen at the Corn Exchange will be showing The Great Escaper at 1:30pm. It’s based on the true story of veteran Bernard Jordan who absconded from his care home to join other veterans on a beach in Normandy to commemorate and remember fallen comrades at the D – Day Landings 70th Anniversary. This is a matinee ‘dinner theatre’ style of seating with tables and chairs to make it easier for people to manage tea or coffee and their ‘rations’.
Tickets £2 including ‘rations’ are now on sale at Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-great-escaper-d-day-anniversary-screening-tickets-911433741857
The day finishes at 7:30pm with a service of reflection and commemoration in the Market Square.
Our air and army cadets will be taking part along with some army reservists from Abingdon and ex RBL veterans including a standard bearer.
The service is eclectic and includes secular as well as religious pieces, delivered by young people from the cadet groups, a humanist celebrant and a member of the clergy from St Mary’s Church.
We are fortunate to have the son of one of Witney’s best known and esteemed D – Day veterans (Patrick Churchill), who will deliver a narrative account of his father’s wartime experience and will also talk about his mother’s experiences growing up in Nazi Germany. He describes their “combined experiences of war from opposite perspectives, and their embodiment of reconciliation and the mission to explain to the younger generation the lessons of history, is what is at the heart of the D-Day commemorations.”
The service culminates in the lighting of the ‘Lamplight for Peace’ and the reading of the tribute.
LED versions of the lamps were offered to care homes in the area and a number of these will be visited by a councillor during the day so that they will have their own lantern and copy of the soldier’s stories as a keepsake.
All are welcome to attend any of the events.
