Sign Language Interpretation on Remembrance Sunday

I was delighted to read the below details of the Rememberance Day Parade on Sunday in Walsall. Some of our soldiers lose their hearing as a consequence of incendiary devices and other service related incidents, so I was pleased to learn that in Walsall a sign language interpreter is being engaged for the duration of the service.

I wonder how many other councils have made the same consideration in planning their respective Parades and the meeting the needs of the service men and women and other attendees.

Walsall's Mayor will be leading the annual civic procession to the town’s cenotaph for the laying of wreaths on Remembrance Sunday.

Councillor Mohammad Nazir and his wife, Mayoress Riaz Begum Nazir, will assemble with representatives at Walsall Council House at 10.05am on Sunday 10 November. Before the parade the Mayor will accompany members of John Henry Carless's family and a representative from the Royal Naval Association to place a wreath on the Carless memorial in Lichfield Street, on behalf of the town.

There will also be an opportunity for others to lay wreaths there to honour Walsall-born Mr Carless who was awarded the Victoria Cross for "bravery and devotion to duty."

The Mayor will return to Walsall Council House for 10.25am where the procession will then make its way to the cenotaph in Bradford Place via Lichfield Street, Lower Bridge Street, The Bridge and Bradford Street. The procession will arrive at the cenotaph in Bradford Place and form in the roadway round the gardens.

The Mayoral party and the clergy will take their places ready for the start of the service at 10.40am. The open air service, which will be amplified, will be conducted by the Reverend Mark Kinder, Vicar of St Paul’s The Crossing.

A sign language interpreter will also be available and will be positioned next to the microphone. People who are hard of hearing may wish to stand as close to the front as possible.

All present at the cenotaph are invited to join in singing hymns, accompanied by The Staffordshire Band and Members of the Credo Singers. The exhortation will be read by a Walsall veteran.

A Bugler from the Staffordshire Band will sound The Last Post before a rifle salute to mark the beginning and the end of the two minutes' silence is given by members of the Mercian Regiment. The bugler will then sound the Reveille before the Mayor leads the laying of wreaths.

Reverend Mark Kinder will give the blessing and all present are invited to sing the first verse of the National Anthem accompanied by The Staffordshire Band and the Credo Singers.

At the conclusion of the service the Mayoral Party will return along the same route to Walsall Council House, where the Mayor will take the salute, accompanied by a Mace Bearer and Standard Bearers from the Royal British Legion.

The Mayor said: "Remembrance Day is a time for us to reflect and remember the sacrifices made both in the past and in current conflicts">"Our thoughts will rightly be with those brave men and women and their loved ones on this important day."