The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is responsible for the commemoration of almost 1,700,000 members of the Commonwealth forces who gave their lives in the two World Wars. They
commemorate over 1000 casualties at Stonefall in Harrogate, and it is one of only five sites across Great Britain which is directly maintained by the CWGC and therefore looks very similar to the sites abroad.
The CWGC’s newly launched War Graves Week:
- Encourage communities to come together to discover and learn about the work of CWGC around the world
- Honour those who died in the two World Wars by visiting their local war graves site
- 21-28 May 2021
Over the course of the week there will be seven socially distanced events across the country, including CWGC’s war graves plot at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, where there will be tours for the public.
The cemetery is the final resting place of over 1000 Commonwealth servicemen and women of the two World Wars. The majority of casualties are Air Force with most flying with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Stonefall Cemetery has been chosen to be the focus for the final day of events for War Graves Week.
They will be offering free tours to the public on which people will learn about the work of the CWGC and the stories of some of the casualties we commemorate there.
Places on the tours have to be booked in advance: https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/events/harrogate-stonefall-cemetery-cwgc-war-graves-week-tours/
In the evening of the 28 May there will be a private closing ceremony for the week which will be broadcast on a Facebook Live as part of a digital festival: Digital Festival | CWGC
The Lord Lieutenant will be attending, the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrogate, Andrew Jones MP and the Commanding Officer of the Army Foundation College.
Just Remember that in the 1987 the then Conservative Council wanted to sell the land close by the war graves to Tesco for a Superstore. Local people fought to protect this area and won. Well done to HARASS.