PLANS to possibly move Wellington’s annual Remembrance Sunday commemoration from an afternoon service to be more in line with the rest of the nation at 11am have been soundly rejected.

For as long as anyone can remember Wellington has had a parade and service in Wellington Park in the afternoon on Remembrance Sunday in November.

But Cllr Gary James, Mayor of Wellington, last summer said he felt it would be good to look at moving the annual ceremony to the morning and for the town to show its gratitude to the fallen at the same time as the nation does at 11am.

The mayor had said initially that he had been contacted by a number of people about the possible change of time but the consultation results had shown that those in support of such a move were very few and far between.

Any decision, in any case, would fall to the Wellington branch of the Royal British Legion which has been a staunch supporter of keeping the ceremony at the park in the afternoon.

The issue was discussed again at Wellington Town Council’s meeting on Monday where the mayor said it had been a useful ‘consultation period and not a confrontation period’.

Traditionally the Taunton Deane ceremony is held in the morning in Taunton and Wellington’s in the afternoon, which means that local service personnel and members of the Royal British Legion and other Armed Forces organisations can attend both. A move to bringing Wellington’s forward to 11am would therefore present problems.

Councillors heard from a number of speakers on Monday who said it would be a detrimental thing to do.

Ray Filler, of the Royal British Legion, said: “We should keep it as it is on a Sunday afternoon. It would be a crying shame if it ever got moved to the morning.”

And Michael Rose said the local MP attended the service in Taunton in the morning and Wellington’s in the afternoon.

“We can’t split our MP into two,” he said. “We also have to think about the police and they wouldn’t have the resources to deal with Taunton and Wellington ceremonies on at the same time.”

Pastor Steve Jenkins said local churches in the Wellington area held their own commemorations at 11am and then came together in the afternoon as one.

“Moving the Wellington service to the morning would be tantamount to saying you don’t want the faith communities involved,” he said. “The churches are very much in one mind on this.”

David Brown, representing the Methodist Church, said: “We could end up with services in the park – a council one in the morning and a Royal British Legion one in the afternoon.”

Councillors were in agreement that the service should remain on a Sunday afternoon.

Cllr John Thorne said: “It’s an emotive subject and a lot of people have said to me that it had caused a stir. But nobody has said to me that they want to change the time – there doesn’t seem to be a demand for it.”

Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams said: “This tradition unites the community with passion and it would be to society’s detriment if this changed.”

Cllr Andrew Govier added: “I was open-minded when this came up but I think there isn’t a great desire to change it.”

But the mayor said he felt 11am – when the nation stands to observe a two-minute to the silence – was very important.

“11am is sacrosanct,” he said. “I feel quite strongly that if the Queen can give up going to church on Remembrance Sunday to be at The Cenotaph in London, I don’t understand why other people can’t.”