St Helens North MP David Baines has paid tribute to men and women from St Helens in Parliament ahead of Remembrance Day.

The Speaker has installed a ‘Constituency Garden of Remembrance’ at the Houses of Parliament every November since 2021, in partnership with the Royal British Legion. The Garden provides an opportunity for MPs to participate in an act of remembrance at Parliament that represents the entire United Kingdom, to honour the sacrifices made by so many in defending our democratic freedoms and way of life.

David Baines MP said that it was an honour to “plant a cross in the Constituency Garden of Remembrance in tribute to those in St Helens North who have served”. MPs are also asked to dedicate their tribute to a local individual we have lost.

David Baines said that “after discussing it with our local Armed Forces Champion Councillor Lynn Clarke we agreed that there was one extremely fitting candidate, Corporal Ashley Coates, who very sadly died one year ago this week”

Corporal Coates was a dog handler in the RAF Police. He joined in May 1991 and served in Bruggen, Lossiemouth, Episkopi (with detachments to the Falklands and Ali Al Salem), and Odiham. In more recent years he was an active member of the St Helens local Armed Forces Forum and a founding member of the Armed Forces Veterans Breakfast Club. David Baines said that “his death last year was a shock to all who knew him, and he is greatly missed. We will remember him, and all those who have served”. St Helens North will pay tribute to members of the armed forces, past and present, in a number of ceremonies this weekend as the nation marks Remembrance Day.