Remembering the past by coming together for today

By Caroline Rudge, Estate Operations Manager at Paradise Birmingham

Remembrance Day is always a poignant moment in our calendar, and one that is not just about the annual act of remembrance itself, but also about sharing that moment with others.

We will mark the day with a bugler playing the Last Post as we observe the two minute’s silence across Chamberlain Square, with this years’ service taking place on Wednesday 11 November at 11am – please try to arrive at least 5 minutes before 11 o’clock.

This event allows occupiers and staff from companies across the estate to come together to share their own stories, memories and thoughts as people take a moment out of their day to join in a ceremony that is repeated not just across the city and country, but around the world.

We’re including our wider local community across the city centre as well as our estate-based business community to help make a difference.

By working with our communities to make and deliver hand-made poppies which are being adorned on our own Remembrance Wall panorama on the Edmund Street hoarding facing Centenary Way, we’re giving many of the 6,000 people working at Paradise a stake in our wider events.

With the knitted poppies created by a whole host of volunteers over the past few weeks with the assistance of charity Art Therapies UK, this has again been a vital feature of this year’s commemoration and fits in with the city’s wider activities.

As well as our own large poppies on the lighting columns along Centenary Way, it is always a heartening sight to see a wide range of occupiers and members of the public wearing their own poppies and coming along and standing in silence together on 11 November.

Shared moments and collaboration with others are an essential part of what Paradise is all about. And bringing people together is of course a key element of Remembrance Day too.

To find out more about Remembrance Day, the work of the Royal British Legion, or to make a charity donation to help support those who have served and their families, visit: Please make a donation | Royal British Legion