More than 500 people from schoolchildren to retired majors turned out for Huddersfield’s Armistice service in Greenhead Park today.

They began gathering at Greenhead Park lower gates around 10am for a 10.30am procession to the War Memorial and service at 10.50am led by the Vicar of Huddersfield, Rev Canon Simon Moor.

At 11am Neil Jowett from the Lindley Band played the Last Post with a two minute silence followed by Reveille.

Among the civic dignitaries present were Kirklees Mayor Clr Ken Smith, Royal British Legion members, Captain Ian Fillan, President of the Huddersfield Veterans’ Association and chairman of the War Memorial Trust and Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney.

In addition there were around 20 members of Huddersfield’s Sikh community including Inderpal Randhawa, President of the Sikh Temple in Prospect Street and senior members of West Yorkshire Police and West Yorkshire Fire Service.

Rev Moor said: “I would like to thank the boys and girls from local schools who have come here today. There are around 300 children here today, a figure way in excess of previous years. It is so important that this generation understands what is happening today so that when they became adults they can explain its significance to their children.”

He also spoke about the need for reconciliation between nations and the need for people to live in conditions of justice and peace.

He added: “We remember those whose lives have been given and, in conflicts past, taken away. Let us remember those who have died for their country in war, in the service of humanity.”

Bus driver Kuldip Singh Brar, 58, from Newsome was one of the many Sikh members present at the ceremony. He said: “These people who have fallen have done a lot for us. We should remember them every year.”

Major Steve Armitage, chairman of Huddersfield Army Veterans, said: “The turnout has been absolutely superb. In the 1970s when I used to come up as a serving officer there were only a handful of us, perhaps as few as eight. Today there must have been as many as 500 to 600 people.”