The Big Remembrance

24 hour Act of Remembrance on World Maritime Day. Maritime Charity urges public to remember merchant seafarers on 23rd September.

To mark World Maritime Day during the International Year of the Seafarer the Principal Chaplain of the global charity Sailors’ Society will be leading a ceremony during which each of the 35,675 names on the National Merchant Navy Memorials in Trinity Gardens, London will be read aloud. The Tower Hill memorial which was built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and unveiled in December 1928, stands as a visible reminder of the sacrifices made by Merchant Seafarers in times of military conflict, and who have no grave but the sea. The Sailors’ Society is committed to replacing isolation with belonging for the world’s seafarers and has supported them and their families for the past 193 years. The Society believes that the event will serve as a formal and dignified Act of Remembrance. It will take 24 hours to read each name on the memorial and ensure that each and every seafarer’s contribution has been recognised. Principal Chaplain Revd. David Potterton will be assisted in the reading by other Sailors’ Society Port Chaplains, staff and supporters, as well as by Merchant Navy Veterans from the Prince of Wales Sea Training School Association, remembering their shipmates who perished at sea. Revd David Potterton, Principal Chaplain at the Sailors’ Society said, "We wanted every name on the memorials to be read on World Maritime Day as a reminder of the huge loss of merchant seafarers in times of military conflict. Every ship and every name will be remembered to ensure that they are honoured and not forgotten." The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which built and now maintains the Tower Hill Memorial is backing the event. The Commission's Director-General Richard Kellaway said: "At over 22,500 sites in 150 countries, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission helps ensure that those men and women who laid down their lives are never forgotten. I hope this event to honour seafarers will help remind people of the sacrifice of those who helped keep Britain and the Commonwealth supplied during the darkest days of war." The reading of names will commence at 0001hrs on 23rd September and conclude at 2400hrs the same day. To cover this event….. Please contact Zoe Mitchell for more details on attendance and covering the event. To find out more about the Sailors’ Society visit www.sailors-society.org or follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SailorsSociety. Ends Words: 371

Tags: