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Sunrise and sunset events in Duncan Nov. 11 remember the end of the First World War

You can get up early and hear the pipers or enjoy the bells at supper time. Or both
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Across Canada, including in Duncan, Bells of Peace will ring out at sunset on Remembrance Day. (Submitted)

Duncan United Church and other sites with bells around the Valley will be participating in the Bells of Peace event this Remembrance Day.

In the Cowichan Lake area, this will include the bell at the Bell Tower School at the Kaatza Station Museum and at area churches that have bells.

At the official time of the setting of the sun on Nov. 11 — about 4:40 p.m. — bells will toll 100 times, with five seconds between each toll, to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Where available, a piper or other musician may play ‘Amazing Grace’ at the cessation of the bells. The event honours the moment in 1918 when church bells across Europe tolled as four years of war had come to an end.

As bells toll to remember the 650,000 who served, close to 66,000 killed, and more than 172,000 wounded, many communities will also commemorate the local people and events that link their community to the Great War.

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Cowichan Valley pipers will also be taking part in an event called The Battle’s O’er early on the morning of Remembrance Day, Nov. 11.

They will join pipers from around the world, by playing their bagpipes at the Duncan cenotaph at 6 a.m. that day.

According to Frank Nichol of the Cowichan Valley Pipers & Drummers, “Pipers world wide have been asked to play at 6 a.m. local time at cenotaphs, or railway stations and ports troops would have departed from in the First World War.

“Some of our pipers will do this, our cenotaph being conveniently located next to the station,” he said.

In Lake Cowichan pipers will play at the Cenotaph, and in Chemainus, there will be a piper at St. Michael’s Church. Others are expected to play in the South End of the Valley, depending where the pipers live.

Please note: this event is at 6 in the morning.