D-Day Commemorations

BURGESS HILL COMMEMORATES D-DAY 80

Thursday 6 June 2024 marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, the largest Naval, Air and Land operation in history. Burgess Hill Town Council arranged a full programme of activities to commemorate the event.

BURGESS HILL YOUTH COUNCIL

Consisting of local primary and secondary schools, the Youth Council met to learn about the history of D-Day with Leader of the Council, Peter Williams, showing a presentation to the children regarding the history of D-Day.
Burgess Hill Heritage and History association provided photographs of Burgess Hill in the 1940s, allowing the children to imagine what life would have been like in Burgess Hill at the time.

Councillor P. Williams presentation is available to view.

COMMUNITY PICNIC

The Town Council worked with local community groups to work on a plan for D-Day 80. Held in St John’s Park, the community picnic followed the guidance from the King’s Pageant Master, Bruno Peek; with musical entertainment, community stalls and more.
Burgess Hill Bonfire Society provided a BBQ, alongside Olly’s Fish Shack selling traditional fish and chips for National Fish and Chip Day, commemorating the role of fishing boats on D-Day.
Jive dancing from Eight Beat Jive Lindy Hop got everyone up on their feet, whilst Three Penny Piece sang some traditional 1940s tunes – D-Day veteran, George, aged 99, joined them to sing along to his favourite tunes.
Burgess Hill District Lions provided a traditional horse-shoe throwing game; Burgess Hill Heritage and History Association brought along displays of photographs of Burgess Hill in the 1940s, as well as information on D-Day itself, encouraging members of the public to discuss their own D-Day memories. Burgess Hill Armed Force Veterans Breakfast Club and the Royal British Legion held a stall to raise funds for the Poppy Appeal and chat to residents about their work. Burgess Hill Girlguiding, the Burgess Hill Academy PTA and the team at St John’s Church were in attendance too, raising funds for their organisations and supporting the day!

MEMORIAL SERVICE AND LIGHTING OF THE BEACON

As the evening went on, the celebratory tone of the event became more solemn as the end of the night approached. Father David of St John’s Church led a service of remembrance for the D-Day Landings, before joining a parade of uniformed organisations back to the park, led by Burgess Hill Marching Youth.
Upon their return to the park, musical performances by Helen Underwood-Lewis and Susan Fleet MBE of Lea Graham Entertainment captivated audiences. Students from Burgess Hill Academy performed readings from the official D-Day guidance before Town Mayor Janice Henwood took to the stage to read the official proclamation.
As she finished her reading at 9:15pm, Burgess Hill Bonfire Society lit the beacon, along with thousands of others across the UK. The evening finished with a wonderful rendition of ‘God Save the King’.

Thank you to the Royal British Legion, St John’s Church, Burgess Hill History and Heritage Association, Helen Underwood Lewis, Central Sussex Rotary and Burgess Hill District Lions for their help with this community event.