Preparations well under way in Dornoch to mark 80th anniversary of D-Day
Preparations are well under way for an event in Dornoch on Thursday, June 6, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The commemoration is being coordinated by East Sutherland Rescue Association (ESRA) and is part of a national commemoration called Light a Lamp for Peace.
ESRA chairman Neil Dalton was this week presented with a commemorative flag by Vice Lord-Lieutenant Kim Tulloch.
The raising of the flag at Dornoch Beach car park on Wednesday, June 5, will mark the start of the commemoration and the flag will fly for seven days.
A packed programme has been arranged for the late afternoon and evening of June 6.
Events will begin at 6.10pm when members of the Young Curators Club at Dornoch’s Historylinks museum will recreate the World War II experience of evacuees.
They will be led by a piper from the war memorial and will assemble on Cathedral Green where they will be joined by members of the Boys Brigade and the Brownies.
The church bells and school bell will ring for peace for five minutes at 6.30pm and a short service will be held which will include the laying of a wreath made by the Young Curators Club.
The National Tribute and the Act of Remembrance will be read.
This will be followed by a barbecue at ESRA’s headquarters - the Cadogan Lifeboat Station at the top beach car park.
Dornoch museum Historylinks, with input from the Dornoch Campus of UHI North Highland, will be staging an exhibition in the lifeboat station. There will me music of the World War II era playing and refreshments.
Dornoch Pipe Band will play in the car park from 8.30pm-8.50pm when the colour parties from local branches of the Royal British Legion Scotland and the Royal Naval Association will muster with veterans for a service starting at 9pm.
During the service the National Tribute and the Act of Remembrance will be read again, another wreath laid and a beacon lit. A lone piper will play.
The events are timed to coincide with similar events in Ross-shire and the lighting of beacons or bonfires in Inver and Portmahomack.
Mr Dalton said: “It is particularly appropriate that an event is being held in the Dornoch Firth area to mark the 80th anniversary as the area was heavily involved in training troops for D-Day.”
Those planning to attend the event are asked to avoid parking in the upper beach car park which is being reserved for those less able to walk.
