Poignant Remembrance Ceremony at Tarbert War Memorial

A sizeable crowd gathered at the Tarbert War Memorial in Harris at 6am on November 11th, to mark 100 years - to the very minute - since the signing of the Armistice in 1918 which would end the Great War five hours later at 11am.

This was the first act in a nationwide day of commemorative events marking the centenary of the end of the First World War and paying tribute to the millions, from all nations, killed or wounded in battle, and those on the home front who struggled amidst pain and loss.

The National Piping Centre (incorporating the College of Piping) arranged for around 2,500 pipers around the world to play at 6am local time, and the Isle of Harris played its part, under the starry skies of a November morning, to hear pipers Geoff Calvert (whose grandfather lost a lung serving with a Scottish regiment in the trenches of the First World War) and Alasdair Morrison (whose grandfather died while serving with the Merchant Navy in the Second World War, and is named on the Tarbert War Memorial) play the retreat march ‘When the Battle’s O’er’.

The brief ceremony was concluded with words from the Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles Donald Martin and the Rev. Ian MacDonald.