Community Voices
Royal Navy Patrol Service Association Annual Memorial Service Returns to Lowestoft
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Everyone is welcome at the Royal Navy Patrol Service Association’s annual reunion service at the National Memorial in Belle Vue Park, Lowestoft, on Saturday 3 October at 11.00.
Published 26 September 2026
The memorial carries the names of 2,385 men who have no grave but the sea. Each year, families of some of those lost travel considerable distances to attend the service and remember the sacrifice made by the men of the Patrol Service.
The Royal Navy Patrol Service had its Second World War headquarters in Sparrows Nest Gardens, now home to the Association’s museum buildings. From Lowestoft, the service coordinated minesweeping, anti-submarine patrols, convoy escort work and many other patrol duties in waters around the world.
Some 66,000 men served in the Patrol Service alongside approximately 6,000 vessels. Around 600 vessels were lost, together with about 5,000 men. Many of the vessels were commandeered fishing trawlers and drifters, and their crews initially drew heavily on Britain’s fishing communities before being joined by volunteers and men called up under the Armed Forces Act.
The annual service offers an opportunity to remember those who served, those who never returned, and the families who continue to carry their stories. The Association looks forward to welcoming members, relatives and members of the public to Belle Vue Park.