Parks police in Sutton will not be allowed to fire cannons marking the two-minute silence on Remembrance Day
Posted on 11/09/2007 10:09:47 AM PST by Stoat
A Minister called for war veterans to be honoured with dignity after a string of incidents tarnished the build-up to this year's Remembrance Day.
Armed forces minister Bob Ainsworth spoke out after hearing of various incidents, including one where a mayor wanted a Rifles regiment to march without rifles.
They include:
Sutton, Surrey - A cannon salute in the park has been cancelled on health and safety grounds. The sound, known as a maroon, was used to signal the beginning and end of the two-minute silence.
Chepstow - The mayor Hilary Beach called for a Rifles regiment not to carry their weapons because it might encourage gun crime.
Kidderminster, Worcestershire - collection boxes have been fitted with alarms because so many were stolen last year. West Mercia Police insisted the move was a necessary precaution.
Castle Bromwich, West Midlands - a parade was cancelled because police will be too busy keeping Birmingham City and Aston Villa fans apart.
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Parks police in Sutton will not be allowed to fire cannons marking the two-minute silence on Remembrance Day
In Castle Bromwich, the decision to cancel the parade because police will be too busy keeping rival football fans apart provoked anger.
British Legion secretary Frances Nicholas said: "Just because people can't behave themselves at a football match, we have to lose out."
In Chepstow, the call to ban rifles was rejected by councillors but Tom King, president of the town's British Legion, said: "The regiment is called the Rifles and rifles are an important part of their uniform and their kit - they would feel naked without them."
In Sutton, the cannon salute had previously been triggered by the Parks Police Service in the borough's two main parks. But these officers have been axed and the replacement service, Safer Parks Teams, which are an arm of the Met, cannot use the cannons on health and safety grounds.
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Baroness Thatcher in London today at a memorial service honouring ethnic war heroes
Councillors have reacted angrily to the ban. Councillor Barry Russell said: "I don't know why we are pandering to the health and safety brigade on what is a very important day."
"The cost is absolutely negligible and I know of very few people who wouldn't say that this is the least we can do when you think about the price the servicemen and women paid for us."
"I don't think the fact is widely known yet but when it is there are a lot of people who will be truly incensed. I can understand that the Met are concerned about heath and safety at the moment but this is ridiculous."
He pointed out that a fireworks company offers a remembrance service package for £250.
Imperial fireworks will supply a trained specialist to come to the venue,trigger the devices twice and cover the cost of insurance liability.
In spite of protests, the parks police were axed by the Lib-Dem led council earlier this year as part of a cost-cutting drive.
The two replacement Safer Parks Teams each comprise a sergeant, two PCs and three police community support officers.
A spokeswoman for the Met confirmed they would not be firing the maroons but would not comment further.
Two years ago, war veterans in the seaside town of Walton, Essex, were left fuming after lifeboatmen told them that they would not be able to fire maroons at the beginning and end of the silence on advice from Royal National Lifeboat Institution headquarters.
John Halls, the chairman of the local Royal British Legion, said he was "very sad" that the decades-old tradition had come to an end.
Remembrance Day ceremonies will take place across the country on Sunday, with the National Service of Remembrance being held at the Cenotaph in Whitehall from 10.30am.
Utter insanity and an obvious and direct insult to ALL Veterans the world over
If you would like to contact Hilary Beach to express your sentiments, you may do so here:
Chepstow Town Council - Contact the Council
Cllr Ms Hilary Beach - Cobwebs, Belle Vue Place, Steep Street, Chepstow NP16 5PS Tel: 01291 627125 DEPUTY TOWN MAYOR
I’d like all the British war vets to come live in North Carolina! We’ll show them the respect they deserve, and let them carry their rifles any time they want.
Fortunately, the rest of the council showed better common sense:
In Chepstow, the call to ban rifles was rejected by councillors
but the mere fact that this official felt the need to express a desire for such a ludicrous change of a proud and honorable tradition suggests a complete disconnect with reality on her part.
Although North Carolina is legendary for scenic beauty as well as an overwhelmingly sane and friendly population, it seems that these Vets may not need to leave the country that they fought for quite yet, as this story appears to be creating outrage throughout the U.K. :-)
Well, good!
“The mayor Hilary Beach called for a Rifles regiment not to carry their weapons because it might encourage gun crime.”
The same way pens encourgage the writing of bad checks.
What a freakin MORON. This is what you get when Left wing dingbats run the show like a bunch of 7th grade girls.
Agreed, but I might suggest that an awful lot of Kindergarten girls are going to have better sense than this stupid woman, as she has obviously bought into the entire Socialist agenda hook, line and sinker if she is making such a brain-dead proposal. She probably wants to ban cars because they "cause" highway deaths. A proud product of Nanny-State Socialism.
Regarding the elimination of the cannon-firing elsewhere in the article,
A spokeswoman for the Met confirmed they would not be firing the maroons but would not comment further.
Whenever Leftist bureaucrats come to the realization that they've done something incredibly stupid and wrong, they never apologize and reverse the policy, they just refuse to comment further and assume that the outrage will die off.
I think that with this just like anything else we all need to take things with a grain of salt and not automatically believe any one source, particularly in terms of complex matters such as what you mention. Although many British FReepers have interesting and worthwhile things to say, just because someone claims to be from a given country doesn't automatically make them a supreme, omniscient expert on every single thing that's occurring in that country....this applies to Americans as well.
I try to get as much information from as many sources as possible, and am always ready to adjust my opinions if sufficiently compelling information comes along that refutes my previously-held perspectives.
Your guns are 'too violent' for Remembrance Day, mayor tells rifle regiment the Daily Mail
Heroes: Chepstow's Remembrance Day parade
Napoleon tried, as did many others.
They all discovered that the riflemen of the British Army do not lay down their arms easily - if at all.
Nonetheless, Hilary Beach decided to call for 1Bn The Rifles to leave their weapons behind at tomorrow's Remembrance Day parade because she feels they are too "violent".
Miss Beach, the Labour mayor of Chepstow in Monmouthshire, said: "I would prefer for there not be any guns at the parade - and raised it because it is an issue I personally feel very strongly about.
"I am very much against guns and think they are awful things. Killing in any war is awful and I am against this violence.
"But I want to make it clear that I hold Remembrance Day as extremely important and it is vital that members of the Armed Forces are in attendance.
"I have always thought about Remembrance Day as a time for peace and to remember those who have lost their lives in combat. However, I think this could be done better without any guns.
"Everybody is worried about the rise in gun crime and violence in this country at the moment, and the destruction these weapons cause is terrible."
If only Miss Beach had boned up on her military history. The Rifles might only have come into being in February this year, but the illustrious history of the four regiments which were merged to create it would have indicated the magnitude of what she was asking.
The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, the Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets all embraced the concept of the rifleman as laid down by General Sir John Moore, the tragic hero of the retreat to Corunna in the Peninsula War.
Miss Beach's plea to the council fell on deaf ears.
Ned Heywood, a former mayor, made one of the opposing speeches.
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Memorial: Baroness Thatcher at a Remembrance service in London yesterday
He said: "Miss Beach is a pacifist and felt unhappy about the Rifles marching with guns through the town. But she received absolutely no support.
"Members of all parties all feel that this is a time to support our armed forces.
"We need them and they do an impossibly difficult job, laying down their lives for the rest of us. I felt this would be undermining them. But it was all very civilised, and Miss Beach accepted the views of the majority."
Phylip Hobson, a fellow councillor, added: "The war veterans have brought guns to the cenotaph since 1918 - guns have always played a part in Remembrance Day.
"We are all very excited about seeing the Rifles in full dress and giving them a warm welcome."
The Rifles - who have only been stationed at Beachley Barracks in Chepstow since August - were not contacted about the discussion and will march with their weapons as planned.
The Royal British Legion said the troops would feel "naked" without their guns.
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Banned: Cannons to mark the two minute silence have been banned in Sutton
Tom King, president of its Chepstow branch, said: "What she said is ridiculous. It is nonsense.
"The regiment is called The Rifles, and rifles are an important part of their uniform and their kit. It's like asking a tank regiment to march past on parade without their tanks. She just doesn't understand this."
Tim Merritt, the legion's Gloucestershire manager, added: "Traditionally, our serving soldiers on parade tend to carry arms and I see no good reason why they should not be allowed to."
• A Remembrance Sunday cannon salute at the start and end of the twominute 11am silence has been banned.
The cannon, known as a maroon, used to be fired by the Parks Police service in Sutton, Surrey. But its replacement by a "Safer Parks Team" - a sergeant, two constables and three police community support officers - has led to is being banned because of health and safety fears. FURY ON THE FELLS
Poppy wreaths have been banned from the 3,000ft summit of Great Gable in the Lake District. For almost 90 years, a mountain-top service has been held there on Remembrance Sunday.
But a dispute broke out this year after the poppy ban by the Lake District Fell and Rock Climbing Club.
Club secretary Paul Exley said: "In the past, members have climbed the mountain and have removed several large rucksacks full of disintegrated, soggy poppy waste.
"This isn't an easy task as the weather is usually awful in late November."
Protesters plan to flout the ban tomorrow - and insist they will clean up after themselves. One of them, Guy Newbold, said: "People laid down their lives in order to protect our freedom from precisely this kind of interference. We intend to lay our wreaths and remember their sacrifices."
Well put. Worth noting that this story appears in a British daily newspaper precisely because that newspaper expects its mass British readership to be outraged by it - which indeed they were. If it were the norm, it wouldn't be news and wouldn't be reported. It has to be set beside the fact that everywhere else in Britain apart from this handful of disgraceful incidents, Remembrance Day ceremonies continue with their traditional dignity and solemnity - and are therefore not news and not reported, apart from the hundreds of small local newspapers who always cover these events.
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