Remembrance Sunday have been marked through the Western Isles since Friday (11 November) with services and memorial tributes as well as the keeping of the two-minute silence.
A remembrance service was held this morning at St Columba’s (Old Parish) Church in Stornoway, with a number of uniformed and emergency services represented.
The service has been made available as a video via Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/StColumbasStornoway/videos/442245041321099
Uniformed services including representatives of Police Scotland, the Royal Air Force Association and 7 Scots regiment were alongside Comhairle representatives and children from Lewis primary and secondary schools at the Lewis War Memorial at lunchtime today, laying wreaths in memory of Lewis’s war dead.
The Remembrance services and a dedication service for the memorial garden below the Lewis War Memorial had a good turnout as better weather followed the downpours of recent days. Churches in Stornoway began services at 10.50am with the various organisations attending at their respective churches.
Following the services, the uniformed organisations and the various support associations marched through the town from Martin’s Memorial with former HM Lord-Lieutenant Donald Martin taking the salute at Carn Gardens on South Beach.
The dedication service at the war memorial then followed conducted by the Rev. Gordon Macleod of the High Church, Stornoway. There then followed the traditional wreath-laying by the armed forces and the other organisations as well as hymns, readings and a very moving lament on the bagpipes and rendition of the Last Post on the bugle.
In Harris the laying of wreaths at the memorial in Tarbert saw the first official engagement of a new generation of RNLI Leverburgh team members, with helm Rachael Campbell, lifeboat operations manager (LOM) Catriona Maclennan and crew member Alex laying a wreath on behalf of the newly commissioned crew.
At Castlebay Community School in Barra acts of remembrance by pupils took place on Armistice Day, Friday 11 November.
The S3 class led an assembly for upper primary and secondary pupils while primary pupils created wall and window displays of poppies.
The pictures show the gathering at Lewis War Memorial by Sandie Maciver; Leverburgh RNLI Lifeboat members in Tarbert; and pupils from Castlebay Community School with Canon John Paul and Rev. David after their assembly.