Banbury remembers: How people have paid their own tributes to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice

A two minutes’ silence took place across the town as people reflected on those who gave their lives at war.

And schools and groups across the district have been doing their bit to pay their own tributes.

Here are the few of examples:

Service at the old Alcan site

The Amazon delivery station in Banbury is partially built on the old Alcan site, which played a major part in the WWII effort.

So members of the Amazon delivery station team held a special Remembrance Day service there today.

The Alcan factory produced rolled aluminium, which was then used in the manufacturing of fighter planes such as Spitfires and Hurricanes.

During WWII, the Alcan site was the largest employer in Banbury, employing over 3,500 people, many of which went to war however, 41 did not return. The names of the 41 are inscribed on a war monument in a memorial garden on the grounds of what is now the Amazon Banbury Delivery Station. Each year during the week of Remembrance Sunday, a special service is held at the memorial garden as a commemoration.

This year, the team from Amazon in Banbury was joined by former Alcan employees, their families and over 50 pupils from Hanwell Fields Primary School who are currently studying WWII at school.

Andy Barber, senior delivery station manager at Amazon in Banbury, said: “We are very proud to host this special commemoration. I would like to thank everyone that came along to pay their respects, and all those involved in delivering this special service.”

Cropredy village sign

The Cropredy Women’s Institute have knitted, crocheted and stitched a large cascade of poppies to hang from the village sign.

The idea to create the cascade originated from the institue’s Knit and Natter social group and involved around 20 contributors, some of whom knit up to 40 poppies.

The cascade stands at about three metres and is composed of over 100 individual poppies, which took a number of months to piece together.

Organiser Rachel McLoughlin said: “It’s something, we wanted to do and a way we could recognise Remembrance Day with.

"It touched a nerve in the village, and everyone wanted to contribute something to it, the response we got from the village was tremendous.

“We were overwhelmed by the response we got, we had so many contributions that we have also been able to put another cascade inside the village church’s north door with all of the spare poppies we had.”

Remembrance at Defence Munitions Kineton

Service personnel and civilian staff at Defence Munitions Kineton were joined by teachers and children from the local primary school for the station’s Remembrance Parade.

A spokesperson said: “It provided an opportunity for all to take a step back from the routinely frenetic pace of the provision of specialist ammunition support to wider defence activity, and pause to reflect on the sacrifices made by so many in the service of their country during conflicts past and present. We will remember them.”