News | Remembrance Day
downsmail.co.uk We will remember them
THOUSANDS of Maidstone residents from across the borough turned out for Remembrance Sunday at the War Memorial in the town centre on November 10.
It was as big a crowd as many
could remember, a poignant statement of the significance of the day and the place. For a town which offered so
many of its young sons in the first great conflict and witnessed the Battle of Britain in the skies di- rectly above, Maidstone recog- nises its place in history. In the 30 minutes before the
start the service at The Broadway, people streamed down the High Street, across the bridge; emerged from Rocky Hill, Tonbridge Road and side streets all around. They gathered around the steps
and railings at the shopping cen- tre, boys perched on walls and ledges, while others strained for a view from the pavements. A Salvation Army trumpeter sounded the Last Post faultlessly, before a two-minute silence was impeccably observed, save for the occasional cough, cry of a child or a gull squawking in the distance. The War Memorial was, until a
few days before, threatened with relocation in a council-led bid to build a large block of flats. Whether that had any bearing
on proceedings, it is impossible to know, but observers thought the turnout matched last year’s cente- nary service and perhaps ex- ceeded it. And as the service personnel of
all ages and ranks made their way back to be saluted at the town hall, they did so to genuine and heartfelt applause.
Simon Finlay
36
Maidstone East December 2019
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