Remembrance Day parade scrapped for first time, thanks to health & safety.
It is a quintessential part of being British: that in towns and cities up and down the country people march to commemorate the war dead on Remembrance Sunday.
But the parades that take place the length and breadth of the land could soon be a thing of the past thanks to the latest ruling from health and safety officials.
New guidelines are being introduced by police and councils which could spell an end to the tradition - by making the parades too expensive to hold.
Organisers in Horwich, Lancashire, have already been forced to cancel the ceremony they were due to hold on November 11 after they were hit with a safety bill of £18,000.
Every year since 1945, the town has held a parade to mark the loss of 350 people of Horwich who lost their lives in both world wars.
But they have been told that a change of rules means they will have to foot a massive bill if they want to go ahead with the event this year.
In previous years, a "rolling roadblock" in Horwich was implemented free of charge by police to clear the way for the parade.
But now senior officers say special marshals must be employed due to safety fears. In addition, organisers will have to pay for each road they wanted closed.
Bolton Council increased road closure prices from £300 to £800 earlier this year and marshals command around £50 a day.
The police claim they only imposed the conditions after a Midlands force was sued when several Brownies were injured on during a similar ceremony when a car was able to drive around a roadblock.
But the decision will have repercussions for small towns and villages across the UK who are unable to fund large safety bills.
Bernard McCartin, of the Royal British Legion, said the ruling and subsequent bill could spell the end to the parades across the country.
Mr McCartin, 65, who served with the Royal Observer Corp in Lincolnshire between the ages of 17 and 21, said: "This is very disappointing but there is not a lot we can do.
"I am absolutely appalled by the decision and it is a mark of disrespect to every person who gave their lives for this town."
The former mayor said: "It is a total disgrace. Several hundred people watch this event every year with all sorts of organisations from cub scouts to veterans taking part. It is a further erosion of what we hold dear in the country."
Steve Rock, chairman of Horwich Council, said the local authority did not have the money to help to meet the bill.
He said: "People will be upset, but the only way to fund it would be to raise council tax next year."
PC Phil Waring, events planner for Bolton, said: "There was an incident in the West Midlands where the police were successfully sued and, as a result, we have to follow new guidelines and make it safer for people."
The Horwich parade has been held since 1945 passing through the town to finish before ending at the war memorial.
Earlier this year new health and safety rules led to the end for an annual duck race in Upper Dam in Cheshire which raised money for charity.
The event is so popular council officials insisted organisers close a nearby road to meet health and safety requirements.
Warrington Borough Council is refused to pay for the closure and, as a result, event organiser the Round Table said it could not afford the £3,000 bill.
**Of course you don't see the councils offering to sort this out, after all rules are rules. It could well be, especially if the council is Labour run that they would be glad to quietly push aside the old soldiers and remembering the dead. They beat the nazi's in Germany, but can not bet the paper pushing nazi scum in the town halls.
Next we have: children's armbands being banned on health & safety grounds.
Swimming pool staff have been told to stop lending inflatable armbands to children - in case someone picks up an infection from blowing them up.
The "health and safety" rule has been imposed by a council even though there are fears it could lead to a youngster drowning.
The decision has infuriated families using the three pools in Bournemouth, Dorset.
One unnamed father said: "Yes, there are germs when different people inflate the same armbands and rubber rings.
"But the time-honoured practice of mums and dads blowing them up - much to the excitement of toddlers - has been going on for decades without people keeling over from contagious illnesses.
"This is a blow against common sense. What will it be next? A ban on children who cannot prove they are toilet trained?
Lindon Fielding, 32, whose young son uses the town's pools, said: "This is the nanny state gone mad. They would rather have children drown than have them catch someone's cold."
The council, which says families can still bring their own armbands, blamed rules issued by the Institute of Sports and Recreation Management.
It said they involved so much red tape it would have needed a full-time staff member just to make sure they were followed.
There would have to be a "hygiene and cleansing" programme, daily inspections for faulty valves and punctures, written guidelines for staff, specific instructions about using armbands to be given to parents and a policy to ensure that bands of the right size were issued to each child.
Leisure marketing manager Geoff Messenger said: "It was just about trying to be nice to customers, helping families who had forgotten to bring armbands, rather than making them buy a new pair.
"The regulations make it too difficult for us to do it now."
But the Institute of Sports and Recreation Management, an educational charity which helps promote the "safe and efficient" running of sport facilities, said it simply issued guidelines, which were not binding on anyone.
A spokesman said: "If you are lending out armbands you have a duty of care. People have to measure their own policy against our guidance."
**Welcome to Blair/Brown's Cool Britannia, be careful out there!
Tags: Cool Britannia, Loony Lefties, Councils, Nanny State, PC Britain, Health & Safety, British Legion, Remembrance Day
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