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Scotland remembers the fallen on Armistice Day

Armistice Day tributes paid across Scotland to those who have died in conflicts around the world.

Scotland has fallen silent on Armistice Day to honour those who have died in conflicts around the world.

The traditional 11 November two-minute period of remembrance took place at 11:00 across the country.

The day is commemorated every year to mark the signing of the armistice between the Allies and Germany in 1918.

It comes after civic and political leaders laid wreaths at war memorials around the UK on Sunday.

Knitted and crocheted poppies cover a cairn outside Anderson High School.
A cascading display of poppies adorns a cairn at Anderson High School
Two flagbearers are are joined by veterans and members of the public outside St Magnus Cathedral. THey are standing in from of a stone arched gateway marked with the dates of WW1 and inscribed with the names of those who did not return from the war.
The silence was observed outside St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney
Three veterans stand with a rustic cross adorned with a WWI helmet in front of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. There are poppy wreaths and black crosses mounted in the grass. Edinburgh Castle sits in the distance.
Veterans marked the silence in front of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh

Communities around Scotland had memorial displays to mark the occasion.

Veterans observed the silence outside Scotland's oldest cathedral - St Magnus Catherdal in Kirkwall, Orkney.

In Shetland a bright red display of poppies decorating the cairn outside Anderson High school in Lerwick was made by pupils, knitters and community groups.

It is thought that 49 former pupils lost their lives in WW1 and about 20 more were killed in WW2.

In Glasgow, a piper led a procession of veterans across the concourse of Glasgow Central railway station.

People gathered in Dundee's City Square at a ceremony of remembrance held on the steps of the Caird Hall.

HES Robyn Thin, dressed in black, places a poppy in the grass among the ruins of Dryburgh Abbey, places the last of over 1,300 poppies created by local school pupils.HES
Poppies made by children cover the lawn at Dryburgh Abbey
A piper wearing a kilt leads three flag bearers and a procession of veterans through Glasgow Central Railway Station, watched by passengers waiting for trains, seated on benches.
A piper led a procession of veterans through Central Station in Glasgow
Four people look across the City Square, with their backs to the camera. Four flag bearers stand in front of Caird Hall steps where veterans are gathered for a memorial service.
People gathered on the steps of the Caird Hall in Dundee's City Square

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ran a Poppy Appeal project encouraging young people to create poppies to be placed on its sites, including Dryburgh Abbey in the Scottish Borders.

They worked with local schools to learn about Anna Guérin, the inventor of the remembrance poppy, and Lady Haig, who ran the first poppy factory in Scotland and was buried at the abbey.

Lady Haig’s paper poppy factory employed men disabled by war, carrying on the spirit of Guérin’s idea – that the poppy should support veterans and the families of the fallen.

Andrew Fagan, 11, in Highland dress and wearing a poppy and a medal for playing in the people's procession on his lapel, holds his bagpipes in the gardens of the Gordon Highlanders Museum.
Andrew Fagan played a lament on the pipes following a two-minute silence at at the Gordon Highlanders Museum

An Armistice Day service was held in Aberdeen at the museum for the Gordon Highlanders - described by Winston Churchill as “the finest regiment in the world”.

Following the silence, a lament was performed by 11-year-old piper Andrew Fagan, who also played in the people's procession at the King's Coronation.

"It was a privilege to play here", he told BBC Scotland.

"I played Flowers of the Forest that's an old funeral march that's in the Scot's guards book."

Mike Ashford-Smith, who has a poppy and five medals on striped ribbons on his navy woollen coat, wears a red Royal Military Police beret and stands in front of red poppy wreaths.
Mike Ashford-Smith attended to remember those who lost their lives and celebrate those who came back

Among the veterans at the Selkirk war memorial in the Borders was Mike Ashford-Smith, 61, who served with Royal Military Police in Northern Ireland.

He said he was attending “for everyone who lost their lives, and celebrating the ones that came back”.

On Sunday, First minister John Swinney had been among the dignitaries to lay a wreath at the Stone of Remembrance outside Edinburgh City Chambers .

He said those who died in World Wars One and Two had “paid the ultimate price” in order to ensure “the freedoms we all now enjoy”.

The SNP's Westminister leader Stephen Flynn appeared alongside the other leaders of the UK parties and every living former prime minister at London’s Cenotaph commemoration.

King Charles, the Prince and Princess of Wales and other senior royals also appeared at the ceremony.