Moving tributes were paid and poignant services held over the weekend to honour veterans as part of Armed Forces Week.

Veterans, families and those wishing to pay their respects gathered in Centenary Square on Saturday for the Jubilee Armed Forces Day and at the Bradford Pals Memorial next to Bradford Cenotaph yesterday to commemorate the huge losses among the district’s servicemen called up to fight in the First World War The event on Saturday began when the standards of the various former service associations within the Bradford district paraded into Centenary Square, led by the 1224 Wharfedale Squadron Cadet Band.

The annual drumhead service followed, which was led by the Reverend Canon Sam Corley, canon precentor at Bradford Cathedral, with a welcome and introduction by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Dale Smith and a reflection by the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire Dr Ingrid Roscoe.

James Hargreaves, president of the Bradford branch of the Royal British Legion, gave the exhortation and Kohima Epitaph during the service.

He told the Telegraph & Argus: “We have got to keep it in people’s minds the forces’ commitment to peace and goodwill is forever ongoing – there’s no end to it at all.

“Our lads out in Afghanistan, they don’t face the same enemies as we faced because most of the opposition for us was in front of us, but these poor devils in Afghanistan have got them all around them.

“We have a lifetime commitment to the legion and we have a duty of care as the legion to serve all ex-service men returning.”

After the service the 1224 Wharfedale Squadron Cadet Band played before a concert by the Yorkshire Band of the Royal British Legion.

Malcolm McGregor, 78, of Wibsey, attended the service with his wife Irene.

Mr McGregor, who spent 12 months in the infantry in Korea from 1952 to 1953, said: “I respect the forces and I wanted to be down here to see what was going on.

“It’s Armed Forces Day and I think a lot about them.

“It is, I think, important to remember and I’m sad they are down on the army as they are doing now.”

The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Coun Dale Smith, said: “It’s important that we do hold an event like this to pay tribute to both previous and current serving members of the armed forces.

“Bradford city plays a very important part in the make-up of the armed forces and it’s only right that the community recognises them for this and thanks them for their dedicated service and supports them in their endeavour to keep the world a safer place for all.

Yesterday, veterans, political leaders and families gathered at the Bradford Pals Memorial to commemorate the sacrifice made by the Bradford Pals on July 1, 1916, when they took part in an attack around the village of Serre in northern France at the Battle of The Somme with the cost of 1,770 lives.

The Reverend Paul Flowers, chaplain to the Bradford branch of the Royal British Legion, led the prayers and reflection at the service.

He said: “In our own day in this year of grace 2012 we also understand the effect on the communities in which we live when one soldier – when one soldier – that we know dies in a place like Afghanistan.

“Families and communities are devastated. So in your minds, multiply that many, many, many times over and you begin to imagine the impact of that one battle in 1916 in a city like ours.

“Barely a family was left unscathed, barely a street anywhere in the city didn’t know someone who had died.

“It’s right that on this day, and on every July 1 to follow, that we remember them and it’s important that we never forget what happened to them and to their families, as the cost of war.”

Among those in attendance included Bradford Council leader, Coun David Green, Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe and Bradford East MP David Ward.

After the service Councillor Green said: “It was a very moving service and I think it’s important that we continue to remember what happened on the first of July.

“It is part of the fabric of Bradford’s history and culture and it’s especially pleasing that there were so many young people there, as well as army veterans, because we need to make sure that all generations in Bradford remember what happened and we need to make sure that the memory of those people who died on July 1, 1916, is kept alive and that we do our best to make sure that experiences like that never happen again.”