ACCRINGTON'S Remembrance Day will again be split this year, with traditionalists holding a service in Oak Hill Park to rival the official one in the town centre.
Businessman Nick Clarke, of Selby Close, Baxenden, is one of the main campaigners for a service in front of the "real'' Cenotaph rather than what he sees as the "cardboard cut-out'' version.
He said this week: "We are looking for a minister to conduct the service. The Rev Kevin Logan of Christ Church is unable to do it this year so we are hoping somebody will volunteer.
"If we can't find anybody, then some brave person will have to say something, but that shouldn't be the case."
He urged people to remember those killed in the wars by attending the park service next Sunday.
He said: "The Cenotaph stands there all year round and it was put there for a reason - so that people can remember those who were killed in two world wars.
"The trouble is that somebody has deemed it inconvenient for the old soldiers to come up to the park so they lay their wreaths in front of a mobile memorial outside the Town Hall."
Mr Clarke, who works as a marketing director for Blackburn-based Vari Tech, added: "The Queen does not have a mobile Cenotaph that she goes to. She actually takes the time to make the trip across London and go to the real thing.
"She pays her respects along with thousands of other people and if she can take the time I am sure we can."
Mr Clarke's grandfather fought in the First World War, seeing action at the battle of Passchendaele in 1917, and his wife Joanne shares his support of Accrington's traditional Remembrance Day service.
He added: "I am encouraging my daughter Leah, who is five, to have respect for those that fell in the conflict. Her sister is only three but I will do the same when she gets older.
"I went to the Cenotaph last year and there were between 60 and 70 of us there. This year there should be even more and I would encourage people to come along and take part."
Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe said: "We merely follow the wishes of the Royal British Legion, which decided it wanted the service in the town centre.
"Anyone who wants the service to be changed should contact the British Legion about it."
Roy Lockwood, vice-chairman of the Church and Oswaldtwistle branch of the British Legion, said: "This was a decision taken a few years ago by the Accrington branch, which has since become defunct.
"It is likely the decision was made because it was felt it was a long way for elderly people to walk from the town centre up to the park."
