Hatfield's parade leaves Hatfield House at 10.30am and Great North Road closes. Welwyn Garden City assembles on The Campus for a 10.50am Howardsgate service.

Remembrance Sunday 2026 falls on Sunday 8 November. Hatfield’s service is confirmed: the parade starts at 10.30am and the service is in the Memorial Garden on Great North Road, opposite the railway station. Welwyn Garden City’s 2026 arrangements have not been published yet, and the Royal British Legion branch page still shows last year’s.

There are two separate towns doing two separate things on the same morning, plus a third service at Hatfield Hyde in the afternoon, so this page keeps them apart.

Hatfield, Sunday 8 November

Hatfield Town Council has the service in its own events calendar for 10.30am to 12pm at “The Great North Road, Memorial Garden (opposite the train station)”. (Hatfield Town Council, Remembrance Service)

The shape of the morning has been the same for years. The parade forms at the front of Hatfield House and marches out to the Memorial Gardens on Great North Road, with army and air force cadets, scouts, guides and Royal British Legion members. The service at the memorial has been led by Father Darren Collins, Team Rector of Bishops Hatfield. (Hatfield Town Council, Remembrance and Armistice Day Services 2025)

In 2024 wreaths were laid by Lord Salisbury, the Hatfield Town Mayor and the local MP, with further wreaths from the borough council, the county council, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue and the University of Hertfordshire. (Hatfield Town Council, Remembrance and Armistice Day Services 2024)

The road closure

Great North Road closes for it. The closure Hatfield Town Council has published before covers roughly 300 metres between Old Hertford Road and Arm and Sword Lane, from 10am to 12pm, put in place so the crowd on the memorial side is not standing next to live traffic. Queries go to Hertfordshire County Council on 01707 357000. (Hatfield Town Council, Temporary Road Closure: Remembrance Sunday)

That notice is from a previous year and the 2026 order has not been advertised yet. Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has published a “Remembrance Sunday road closures” document in past years, but as at 5 September 2026 its download link returns a not-found page, so nothing is confirmed in writing for this year.

Welwyn Garden City, Sunday 8 November

Nothing has been published for 2026. The Royal British Legion’s Welwyn Garden City branch page is still headed 9th November 2025, which was last year’s date. (Royal British Legion, Remembrance Sunday in Welwyn Garden City)

The pattern it sets out has held for several years and is what to expect until the branch updates:

  • The parade assembles on The Campus at 10.30am.
  • The service starts at the Howardsgate memorial at 10.50am.
  • Hatfield Hyde: the procession leaves St Mary Magdalene Church at 2.50pm and the service at the memorial starts at 3pm.
  • Legion members and guests are invited to the Royal Naval Association Club after both ceremonies.

The Welwyn Garden City Society gives the same two assembly times, 10.30am at Howardsgate and 2.45pm at Hatfield Hyde, and each year puts research posters about the names on the memorial into the Howardsgate community poster booths. (Welwyn Garden City Society, Remembrance)

Welwyn Garden City has no town or parish council, which is why there is no single official page for its Remembrance arrangements and why the Legion branch page is the one to watch. It is worth checking again in late October.

Armistice Day, Wednesday 11 November

Armistice Day is the actual anniversary of the 1918 ceasefire and is marked separately in both towns, on a much smaller scale.

Hatfield holds a short service at the War Graves on Great North Road at 10.45am, listed by the town council as running to 11.15am. (Hatfield Town Council, Armistice Day) The war cemetery is on the Hatfield Park grounds next to the road. In past years it has drawn the Deputy Mayor, air force cadets, Legion members, veterans and the families of those buried there, and the two minutes’ silence is observed with a wreath laying.

Welwyn Garden City has held a short service at the Howardsgate memorial starting at 10.45am, per the Legion branch, again on the 2025 page rather than a 2026 one.

Getting there

The Hatfield service is directly opposite Hatfield railway station, so the train is the simplest way in and avoids the closure entirely. If you are driving, expect Great North Road to be shut through the middle of the morning and plan a way round; our roadworks and travel page has the current A1(M) and local closures. Town car park tariffs, including the free ones, are on our parking in Welwyn Garden City page.

What it means for you

  • Hatfield is the one you can plan now. 10.30am, parade from Hatfield House, service in the Memorial Garden, road shut until about noon.
  • Do not rely on the Legion page’s date. It still says 9 November 2025. Remembrance Sunday 2026 is 8 November.
  • Hatfield Hyde is an afternoon service, not a second morning one, and it starts from the church rather than the memorial.
  • Armistice Day is a different day. Wednesday 11 November, 10.45am, and it is a short service rather than a parade.

This page will be updated when Welwyn Garden City’s 2026 times and the borough council’s road closure notice are published, both expected in late October.