COMMUNITIES in the Musselburgh area are marking Remembrance with poppy displays, church services and wreath-laying ceremonies.

St Andrew’s High Church has its annual eye-catching show of red poppies – symbols of both remembrance and hope for a peaceful future – in the church grounds on Musselburgh High Street.

The minister, the Rev Leslie Milton, said: “Every year, members and friends of St Andrew’s High Church put out a display of poppies in the church grounds on Musselburgh High Street.

“We’ve not counted them but we know that there are thousands.

“We are delighted that so many people in the wider community tell us how much they appreciate this.

“The poppies were all knitted by members of the congregation.

“For some people, the memories are very personal – one person in our church who takes part every year thinks about her own father, whom she never knew as he was killed in the Second World War and never returned to see his daughter. For others, they are a focus of remembering the sacrifice of so many in war. They help us pray for peace.

“We will be glad this year to welcome people into our grounds during remembrance time, some from a local care home and some from local schools.

“At a time when there is so much uncertainty in the world, and when the war in Ukraine is so much in our thoughts, remembrance is as important as ever.”

People are also invited to attend an Armistice Day service at the Crookston war memorial in tribute to the men from Wallyford, Smeaton and Deantown (now Whitecraig) who lost their lives in the First World War.

The annual ceremony at the memorial, which is situated just inside the gates of Inveresk cemetery at St Michael’s Parish Church, takes place today (Friday) at 10.30am.

In Musselburgh, Remembrance Sunday begins with a parade of uniformed organisations and local dignitaries which will leave the Old Town Hall on High Street at 10.15am bound for a service at St Michael’s Church, Inveresk.

Wreaths will be laid at the First World War memorial outside the church.

The parade will then make its way back into the centre of Musselburgh for a short service, with Deputy Lieutenant Lyn Marshall taking the salute outside Lewisvale Park.

A short service, conducted by members of the clergy, will be held at the Second World War memorial at around 12.30pm at The Mall where wreaths will be laid.

Musselburgh & Inveresk Community Council has organised the town’s annual poppy collection, with the help of local cadets, to help the Royal British Legion continue work supporting the armed forces community.

A service of remembrance will also take place at St Clement’s and St Ninian’s Parish Church in Wallyford at 10am on Sunday.

A piper from Preston Lodge High School Pipe Band will play a musical tribute at the start of the service, which will be conducted by locum minister the Rev Peter Wood. At about 10.45am, the congregation will be piped outside for a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial stone in the garden.

Alister Hadden, chairman of Wallyford Community Council, will recite the poem For The Fallen and Simon Louden will play The Last Post on the bugle. A two-minute silence will be observed and Reveille, a musical signal to wake up military personnel, will be sounded. Mr Hadden will read the Kohima Epitaph, which is carved on the Memorial of the 2nd British Division in the cemetery of Kohima in India.