If you are driving, please be aware that the A2 will be closed from 10:30am until approximately 11:30am. Diversions will be in place. Please allow extra time for your journey.
01 · TOGETHER, WE REMEMBER
More than a date.
More than a name.
Remembrance brings us together across generations, backgrounds and beliefs. We honour those who gave their lives, stand beside those who carry the wounds of conflict, and remember the families and communities changed for ever.
Gratitude and grief belong here together. So do questions, memories and the hope that our children might inherit a more peaceful world.
Whether you come with a uniform, a wreath, a family story or simply yourself, there is a place for you.
REV’D NATHAN WARD
LIVES BEHIND THE HISTORY
They were someone’s
whole world.
Before they were names on memorials, they were neighbours, friends, parents and children. People with ordinary hopes, familiar voices and places they called home.
To remember is to look beyond the uniform and see the person. To hold in mind all who served, all who suffered, and all whose lives were interrupted by war.
British soldiers arriving in a village on the Western Front, 1918.
National Library of Scotland.
This archival photograph is not a scene from Rainham.
ST MARGARET’S · RAINHAM WAR MEMORIAL
12 DECEMBER 1920
02 · OUR PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE
Here, in the heart
of Rainham.
Beside St Margaret’s stands Rainham’s war memorial: a Cornish granite Celtic cross, unveiled on 12 December 1920. Raised by the local community, it gave those at home a place to gather, grieve and remember.
More than a century later, that purpose remains. The names cut into the stone are part of this town’s story. Our annual act of remembrance carries their memory into the life of Rainham today.
Our remembrance begins in church at 10:30am, then continues at the war memorial. Please arrive at 10am for the best chance of a seat, or gather at the memorial by 10:50am.
If you cannot join us in person, you can watch online. Wherever you are, we can all hold the two-minute silence at 11am.
10:00
01
ARRIVE AT CHURCH
Please arrive at 10am for the best chance of a seat. The service begins at 10:30am.
10:30
02
IN THE CHURCH
A service of remembrance, with hymns, readings and prayer. We make space for gratitude, grief and our shared hope for peace.
10:50
03
GATHER AT THE WAR MEMORIAL
Please gather at Rainham War Memorial by 10:50am for the act of remembrance.
11:00
04
THE TWO-MINUTE SILENCE
The Last Post leads into the two-minute silence at 11am, followed by Reveille and the laying of wreaths. Wherever you are, we can all share in the silence.
04 · A MOMENT SET APART
Two minutes.
A lifetime remembered.
For those whose voices are missing. For those who returned and carried the cost. For all who still live with the consequences of war.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning,
we will remember them.
FROM “FOR THE FALLEN” · LAURENCE BINYON
2:00
British War Medal awarded to Private Harry Thomas Hogg,
Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment.
Shown as an archival object, not as a Rainham connection.
05 · THE THINGS WE KEEP
Small objects.
Immeasurable meaning.
A ribbon worn smooth. A photograph carefully kept. A wreath laid without words. Objects help us carry memories when language is not enough.
Service, courage and sacrifice.
A medal can tell us that someone served. It cannot tell us everything they endured, who waited for them, or what it meant to come home. Behind every decoration is a human life.
Remembrance wreaths at Guy’s Hospital War Memorial, London.
Illustrative photograph.
A promise, laid in flowers.
The wreath is a public act with a deeply personal meaning. We lay it in gratitude, in sorrow and in the hope that remembrance will shape how we live.
06 · WHAT WE CARRY FORWARD
Let remembrance
lead us towards peace.
Our service holds remembrance alongside responsibility: to help, encourage and comfort others, to relieve suffering, and to support those who work for peace.
We remember the wounded and the captive, the grieving and the homeless. We pray for courage with compassion, for justice with mercy, and for a world in which fewer families have to bear the cost of war.
Do justly.
Love mercy.
Walk humbly.
MICAH 6:8 · THE READING IN OUR 2025 SERVICE
07 · JOIN US
Come as you are.
Remember with us.
You do not need to be part of the church to take part. Come with family, with friends, with an organisation, or on your own.
Please contact the church office before your visit if you need assistance, including wheelchair access, so we can help you plan your visit.
If you cannot attend, you can watch online. We can all share the silence wherever we are at 11am.
Sunday 8 November 202610:00 ARRIVE FOR A SEAT10:30 IN CHURCH10:50 GATHER AT MEMORIAL11:00 TWO-MINUTE SILENCESt Margaret’s Church
High Street, Rainham, Kent
ME8 7JH
If you are driving, please be aware that the A2 will be closed from 10:30am until approximately 11:30am. Diversions will be in place. Please allow extra time for your journey.
