Local soldiers who served, and in some cases made the ultimate sacrifice, on behalf of Canada won’t be forgotten — especially this Remembrance Day season.
New billboards are up at the cenotaph off River Street, to compliment banners that were already being hung on polls along major Bancroft streets. They show the names and, in some cases, pictures of soldiers who served in the First and Second World Wars.
Royal Canadian Legion Bancroft President Larry Shattraw points out the upcoming Remembrance Day will be the first in which locals can see the signs at the cenotaph. They were paid for through a Canadian Heritage grant, which was given to mark the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last spring.
The Legion is getting ready for the Remembrance Day ceremony on Friday, Nov. 11. Groups that would like to be involved are asked to call the legion.
And its poppy campaign is underway, as donation boxes have been sent out to several stores.
Shattraw says the legion is hoping for a bump up year, because the last two campaigns were impacted by COVID. With fewer people out and about, those campaigns raised about $9,000 each, which is lower than normal. Shattraw hopes to raise about $12,000 this year.
Shattraw says, to his knowledge, there’s just one surviving Second World War veteran in the area, so the nature of the poppy campaign has shifted.
The money goes back into the community and supports organizations that have close ties to veterans. That includes Hospice North Hastings and local youth cadet programs.
