THE Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Councillor John Boyle held a special ‘Battle’s Over’ tribute marking the centenary of the end of the First World War at the Guildhall yesterday evening.
An interdenominational service was held which culminated in the lighting of two beacons, one in Guildhall Square and the other in the Diamond, Castlederg.
Several hundred people attended the event, including senior clergy from Derry.
The Mayor said: “I was humbled to host a series of events to mark the 100th anniversary of WWI including an interdenominational service and the lighting of a beacon.#”
Earlier in the day, over 1,000 people stood in silence at the city’s Cenotaph as the Guildhall bells chimed at 11am, to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Wreaths were laid by representatives from the DUP, UUP and SDLP, as well as groups representing the Royal British Legion, PSNI and UDR at the war memorial following a two-minute silence.
The services on Remembrance Sunday had a special resonance with the Mayor.
His grandfather, Jack Rutherford fought with the 10th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Born in 1898, Jack Rutherford join the Fusiliers at the age of 16 and went to the trenches in 1915 for the next three years.
The Mayor said: “I think that it is fitting that we remember our fellow countrymen and people of all nations.
“People can disagree with wars and the strategies and the purposes of war, but we should also recognise the circumstances and the conditions, the motives and the lack of choices of those who were put on the front line and in harm’s way in wars.”
