A piece of music specially commissioned to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme will be performed in Derry tonight.
The work, entitled “1.7.16,” has been commissioned by the local Hamilton Flute Band and will be performed by the band during a remembrance service in St Columb’s Cathedral.
The piece has been composed by Mel Orris, who arranged the Siege of Derry Overture, performed in the cathedral in 2013.
The cathedral choir will also sing the anthem “Wilt Not Thou, O God,“ composed by the Irish composer, Ina Boyle, in 1915.
It was to have been sung by the cathedral choir 100 years ago but it did not happen due to so many of the choir members going off to war.
Prior tonight’s service, the Hamilton Flute Band will lead a parade through the city centre to a wreath-laying ceremony scheduled to take place at the Diamond War Memorial at 6.45pm.
Tonight’s commemorative service will be last for Dean Morton as he is due to take up his new post of Dean and Ordinary at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.
A parade and church service will also take place in the Waterside area of the city tonight, beginning at 9.00pm.
The city’s remembrance services began this morning when local Apprentice Boys attended a wreath-laying ceremony and observed two minutes silence at the Diamond War Memorial.
The event was held exactly 100 years from the start of the Battle of the Somme which began at 7.28am on 1 July, 2016.
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