Marking Remembrance Day 2025
Several ceremonies were held at our hospital to mark Remembrance Day 2025.
Staff and visitors gathered in our Safe Garden on Tuesday 11 November for our Remembrance Day service.
The service was led by our Lead Chaplain Reverend Clive Howard, with readings and prayers from our Chaplaincy team, our Chief Nurse Jacky Copping and other members of staff, and a hymn sung by our hospital choir.
Jacky and our Executive Managing Director Dr Shane Gordon formally laid a wreath on behalf of the Trust and there was a wreath laying on behalf of the East Anglian Ambulance Service, following the two-minute silence.
On Wednesday 12 November Veterans attending our regular coffee morning took the opportunity to remember fallen colleagues and all those who serve, with a short remembrance ceremony including a wreath laying in our Louise Hamilton Centre garden.
The Centre hosted dozens of veterans and guests for the social coffee morning and our Armed Forces Support Officer Kath Hutton, who led the ceremony, and the Louise Hamilton Centre team, including Centre Manager Sue Francis, were joined by James Paget hospital Executive Managing Director Dr Shane Gordon.
VETERANS COFFEE MORNING HOSTS SPECIAL GUESTS TO MARK ARMED FORCES WEEK
The hospital hosted a number of special guests on Wednesday 25 June 2025 to mark Armed Forces Week. Our Armed Forces Support Officer, Kath Hutton, together with Sue Francis and her volunteers in the Louise Hamilton Centre welcomed veterans and guests including The Vibettes, the Norfolk Military Vehicle Group, the Oliver Peters Coffee Company and the Norfolk Armed Forces Commissioner and Army veteran, Andrew Taylor.
The Vibettes are a local vocal duo who specialise in 1940s, 1950s and 1960s music. They were recently were flown to Guernsey to sing at the Channel Island’s VE Day 80 celebration, and can be seen at Lowestoft’s 1940s Day event being held in Wellington Gardens, on the seafront, on Saturday 12 July. The duo sang a medley of wartime classics for guests, while they tucked into a buffet lunch.
Several vehicles owned by members of the Norfolk Military Vehicle Group were on display outside the Centre, while local Royal British Legion volunteers ran a fundraising raffle. The coffee was kindly supplied, free of charge for this event, by the Oliver Peters Coffee Company, a Norfolk business inspired by Oliver’s grandfather’s service in the Royal Norfolks.
The regular coffee mornings are open to anyone who has served in the UK Armed Forces and their families and are usually attended by dozens of veterans from around the area. The next Veterans Coffee Morning, which will return to its usual format, will be held on Wednesday 17 September, in the Louise Hamilton Centre, between 11am and 2pm.
Thanks to funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Thrive Together programme, the James Paget Armed Forces Service is able to support a number of community groups.
These groups have been celebrating VE80 in different ways;
Veterans Kitchen is a group that meets fortnightly in Disability Advice North East Suffolk (DANES), Lowestoft to cook a meal and eat together, encouraging confidence in the kitchen together with an enjoyable social group. For VE80, the group prepared recipes from the wartime Ministry of Food – Lord Woolton’s pie, Spam Fritters and Eggless Ginger Cake.
As half of our group are over the age of 90, we also shared some memories of wartime food and rationing.
The Brew Butty and Banter group takes place monthly in Beccles, supported by the Royal British Legion Beccles branch.
We held an indoor street party for VE80 tucking into Spam sandwiches, jam tarts and homemade cakes.
With bunting and flags, the atmosphere was festive, and our older members shared their memories of living during WW2 and VE Day.
We also raised £70 from a raffle for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
