
- This event has passed.
Son et Lumière Remembrance Parade
9 November 2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Free
HISTORY

Folkestone was a key port during WWI. From 1914, over 65,000 refugees headed to the town from Belgium and millions of men and women travelled between Folkestone and France from 1916-18. More than 100,000 railway engineers kept supplies and troops moving. The railways carried millions of injured soldiers to safety. Amazingly, nobody was lost to enemy action whilst crossing the English Channel.
Unfortunately, the town also suffered the largest single incident with civilian casualties outside London during WWI when, on 25 May 1917, German Gotha bombers hit several sites, including a busy Tontine Street. 74 people died that day, with at least 96 injured.
In 1940, Folkestone received an estimated 35,000 troops and 9,000 refugees from Dunkirk. The skies above Folkestone were a hive of activity that summer and the area became known as Hellfire Corner.
ABOUT THE PARADE
Unfortunately, the Walking With Ghosts event is unable to take place this year. In order to remember those brave people who passed through Folkestone, and mindful of wars across the globe today, the New Folkestone Society will be hosting a free Son et Lumière remembrance parade.
Meet on The Leas outside The Grand at 5.45pm.
LANTERNS
The ‘lumière’ element of the event will be achived through the use of battery-operated lanterns. Shorncliffe Trust have kindly lent us 150 lanterns, which will be distributed to the first 150 participants. We encourage the public to bring battery-operated tealights or lanterns (no real candles please) if they have something appropriate, as there may be a shortage! The Shorncliffe Trust lanterns will be placed on the Folkestone Harbour Station platform to create a tribute, and returned to the Trust after the event. We would suggest visitors mark their battery tealights on the base if they wish to include them, so they may be collected after the event.
We envisage the event to end at around 8pm.
ABOUT THE ROUTE
The procession will depart from outside The Grand at 6pm, walking along The Leas towards the Step Short Remembrance Arch accompanied by music, heading through the Sandgate Road pedestrian precinct, down the Old High Street to Folkestone Harbour Station for the finale, where the lanterns will be assembled to create a tribute.
Stops along the way will provide stories, poetry and wartime letter readings courtesy of Folkestone Music Town, FPAC and Write By The Sea. The music will gradually get quieter as a moving and poignant reminder of those we have lost on the battlefields.
We encourage anyone who becomes lost from their party to continue to the arch, where marshals will be able to assist in reuniting parties.
ACCESSIBILITY
The route from The Grand to the Step Short Remembrance Arch is relatively flat. Please keep to the designated path.
As the Old High Street is relatively steep, cobbled and uneven, we would encourage anyone who has mobility issues to take advantage of the free electric minibus we have arranged, courtesy of Folkestone Town Council.
Anyone who wishes to use the minibus should speak to a marshal at the Step Short Memorial Arch and wait for the bus there.
The bus will return to The Leas afterwards.