By James Bovington
About 35 people gathered for a ceremony of remembrance in Armley Park on the afternoon of Friday 11 November to commemorate the sacrifice of Armley people who gave their lives in WW1.
Josh Wisher, owner of The Ministry of Boxing in Moorfield Road, said his gym had proposed the event to provide an opportunity for the community to come together as part of The Ministry’s community engagement programme and ensure that young people could be more aware of the impact of WW1.
Mr Wisher, 24, said: “We chose that time so that young people of school age could attend and I was pleased to see that some of our boxing students from The Ministry made the effort.
“It’s not lost on me that young men my age were called on in many cases to make the ultimate sacrifice. They were people from our community, and it’s only fitting that we remember them and ensure that people even younger than me do so too and that we all then do something positive with our lives.”
The ceremony was addressed by a local representative of the Royal British Legion, John Barker, who described the scale of the sacrifice made by the people of Armley and shared specific details of some on the memorial designed by Sir Charles Nicholson and dedicated in September 1921.
The cross on a hexagonal based stands almost eight metres tall and lists the names of the 442 men and women from Armley, including one married couple, who made the ultimate sacrifice.
