Cupar legion branch to mark pilgrimage anniversary

Ray Riley and Frank Wilkinson will represent the Cupar branch and the local community at the event, as standard bearer and wreath layer respectively.

Representatives from other branches across Britain will attend the Great Pilgrimage 90 in August, 90 years after the original Royal British Legion pilgrimage in 1928, which saw 11,000 World War I veterans and war widows visit the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium.

That pilgrimage culminated in a march through Ypres to the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Menin Gate Memorial for a ceremony to commemorate the launch of The Hundred Days Offensive.

Ray and Frank will tour some of the same battlefields and cemeteries visited by those on the 1928 pilgrimage, before marching along the original route through Ypres, to the Menin Gate on August 8, bearing their branch standard and a wreath.

Mr Jim Anderson, chair of Cupar branch of The Royal British Legion Scotland, said: “Great Pilgrimage 90 is a unique opportunity for the legion community to come together and bear our standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of World War I.

“The Cupar branch looks forward to proudly representing Cupar at the event.”

As local champions of remembrance, the Cupar branch of The Royal British Legion is looking to work in partnership with the community to bring their unique remembrance message to the Menin Gate, on their wreath, where it will be displayed in a wreath installation for viewing by the general public.