By Helen Fay
A war grave talk and tour in Armley’s Hill Top Cemetery will mark the anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day.
Free cemetery talks and tours encouraging people to discover the heritage on their doorstep have been launched by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to mark the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day.
The talks and tours launch during the CWGC’s annual War Graves Week, from May 2, then continue over the summer in towns and cities all over the UK.
The launch also coincides with the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 8, and VJ Day on August 15.
The tour at Armley will take place between 5pm and 5.45pm on Wednesday, 7 May 2025 and will give people the chance to discover the remarkable stories of the men and women of the Commonwealth forces that died in the First and Second World Wars who are buried in their community.
War Graves Week is an initiative aimed at encouraging people from the local community to come together and discover the world war heritage on their doorstep – learning about the stories of those commemorated by the CWGC in Armley and the skills, dedication and expertise of those CWGC staff and volunteers who work to keep their memory alive.
Local genealogist and author Sharon Knott, of Farnley, will be the tour guide for the event which will take place at Armley Hill Top cemetery.
Sharon is a CWGC volunteer and has also recently been accepted to volunteer on another project for the organisation.
This project involves cross-referencing thousands of records from World War One relating to Punjabi men who served as part of the Commonwealth but are not commemorated at the moment.
Sharon said: “The records have been stored in a Lahore Museum up until recently.”
Her role is to cross-reference large datasets that have been transcribed into English with the large datasets of CWGC.
Sharon added: “To undertake this, my background in Finance and Excel, along with my research skills are vital.”
More details on this project can be found here.
Tickets for the free guided tour of Armley Hill Top Cemetery to commemorate War Graves Week are available now and booking is essential. Anyone interested in attending the tour should book here.
Sharon has previously written two books featuring full page profiles of local men from Farnley who died in both World Wars.
She was also actively involved in a group project to restore the Farnley War Memorial over ten years ago. This led to Sharon researching and writing her books about all those named on the Memorial.
A link to the books, published by Blurb, can be found here.
Sponsored content
