THIS year Armistice Day falls on Friday, and in Swindon the two minutes’ silence will be signalled from the Cenotaph.

Many people will pause to remember the Fallen while others, perhaps because of work commitments, will wait until Remembrance Sunday to pay their respects.

Still others, as is their right, will not mark either occasion.

In earlier times the observance of both commemorations was almost total.

On Wednesday, November 11, 1936, we reported: “Swindon Cenotaph became a shrine of pilgrimage.

“Ordinary duties of the day were, for a short space, forgotten, and the traffic of the town was stopped while the throngs recalled the sacrifices of war.

“The silence was broken only by the voices of small children on the outskirts of the crowd, the collapse of a woman who was removed by first aid men, and the sobbing of both men and women, for nobody is ashamed to shed proud tears of remembrance on such a poignant occasion.”

The mayor and mayoress headed the party of local dignitaries, and the mayor, Alderman LJ Newman, laid a wreath of poppies and laurel leaves.

Swindon Military Band provided music for the hymns Nearer My God to Thee and O God Our Help.

We said: “Heedless of the rain, many bereaved mothers and widows were among the assembly, and placed their rain-drenched flowers on the Cenotaph.

“There were chaplets [garlands] and wreaths from many Swindon societies and organisations, Great Western Railway departments, Regiments and, in just as honoured positions, modest offerings from bereaved folk of humble circumstances, whose offerings had been made up of the best flowers from their gardens.”

There was also a commemoration at the Railway Works.

“More than 2,000 people, workmen and clerks, assembled in the ‘BE’ Shop for the annual Service of Remembrance.

“The oaken and gilt war memorial, draped with the Union Jack, formed a fitting background for those conducting the service, Mr P Jackson and Mr Gough, the former taking the prayers and the latter giving the address.

Mr Gough, we added, spoke of the need to be determined that the tragedy of the Great War should never be repeated.

Less than three years later, it was.