Actor and long-standing peace campaigner Sir Mark Rylance led the 2025 Alternative Remembrance Day ceremony, joining Quakers, CND and the Peace Pledge Union in calling for remembrance that honours all victims of war.
Remembrance Day 2025 unfolded amid intense global conflict, from Gaza to Ukraine, prompting renewed calls to rethink how Britain remembers war. At the heart of this national conversation was Sir Mark Rylance, the Oscar-winning actor, former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, and a committed peace advocate. Rylance helped lead the national Alternative Remembrance Ceremony in London’s Tavistock Square, standing alongside the Peace Pledge Union, CND and Quakers.
Speaking to those gathered, Rylance said, “To remember the dead honestly means refusing to accept war as inevitable. Remembrance is not a tribute to militarism, but a plea to protect life.†His presence brought national attention to a movement seeking to broaden remembrance by placing civilians, conscientious objectors and present-day victims of war at its centre.
Despite their different histories and constituencies, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) and Quakers in Britain shared a common approach in 2025. All three emphasised three linked convictions: that remembrance must include all victims of war, especially civilians; that present conflicts cannot be separated from remembrance; and that genuine remembrance should lead to action by examining the causes of conflict and working to prevent future violence.
From this shared foundation, each group offered its own distinctive contribution.
CND used Remembrance 2025 to highlight the ongoing dangers of nuclear escalation, particularly as the Ukraine conflict entered another year of military stalemate. Their public statements argued that remembrance must include the countless civilians who would be victims of any future nuclear exchange.
Many local CND groups participated in alternative remembrance ceremonies, often standing alongside white poppy wearers. CND speakers stressed that honouring the dead requires challenging the systems, including nuclear weapons, that threaten future generations.
The Peace Pledge Union’s white poppy campaign saw significant visibility in 2025. The PPU reiterated its long-standing message: that remembrance should oppose war itself, not simply commemorate its casualties.
White poppy ceremonies took place across the UK, with a major national gathering at the conscientious objectors’ memorial in Tavistock Square. The PPU linked 2025’s remembrance directly to contemporary wars, arguing that it was impossible to mourn the past while ignoring the deaths unfolding daily in conflict zones. Their public messaging drew attention to record worldwide conflict deaths and rising militarisation at home.
Quakers marked Remembrance 2025 through both national and local initiatives. Working with Every Casualty Counts, Friends helped launch Memorial 2025, a digital platform naming those killed in conflicts during the previous year. This project was accompanied by a quiet, reflective event in London featuring a projected “virtual Cenotaph†honouring individual civilian lives.
Local Meetings held silent worship, joined white poppy ceremonies, and amplified calls for an end to indiscriminate violence in Gaza, Ukraine and beyond. Quaker statements stressed that remembrance must be rooted in truth, compassion and a willingness to challenge the structures that sustain war.
London CND co-hosted the national alternative remembrance ceremony in Tavistock Square, where participants laid white poppy wreaths for all victims of war and observed two minutes’ silence. In cities such as Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow and Brighton, local peace groups held parallel ceremonies that blended remembrance with calls for diplomacy, ceasefire and humanitarian protection.
Every Casualty Counts played a significant role in shaping 2025’s peace-focused remembrance discourse. By naming specific individuals killed in modern wars, the organisation challenged the anonymity often imposed on civilian deaths. Their partnership with Quakers brought renewed emphasis to the ethical duty to record and acknowledge every life lost, not just those in uniform.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation held prayer vigils, reconciliation services and public conversations about nonviolence. FoR highlighted the importance of remembering peacemakers, humanitarian workers, conscientious objectors and those who resist participation in war on moral grounds.
The Peace Museum in Bradford promoted educational resources explaining the origins of the white poppy and the diversity of remembrance traditions. Their initiatives in 2025 aimed to help schools and community groups explore remembrance in ways that included civilians, victims of colonial conflicts and survivors of forced displacement.
Although quieter in national media coverage, Campaign Against Arms Trade used the Remembrance period to critique the UK arms industry, arguing that honouring war victims requires confronting the economic and political structures that fuel conflict. Their commentary linked Remembrance Day with urgent questions about arms exports to active warzones.
Remembrance Day 2025 revealed a Britain grappling not only with the legacy of past wars but with the violence of the present. Against a backdrop of global conflict, the responses from CND, the PPU, Quakers and allied organisations shared a clear message: remembrance must be truthful, inclusive and forward-looking.
Their ceremonies, vigils and public statements offered a vision of remembrance rooted in compassion for all who suffer in war, and in a refusal to accept militarism as the natural order of things. In doing so, they helped expand the national conversation, reminding the country that honouring the dead must go hand in hand with working for peace among the living.