Tag: Remembrance Day

photo of poppy wreath
Posted in Events, Personal life

Saying It With Poppies

Posted on by Debbie Young

For the first time in years, I watched the national ceremony for Remembrance Sunday on television as it was broadcast live from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London.

Usually 11am on Remembrance Sunday finds me on our village green, known as The Plain, where our local ceremony around the war memorial has been taking place for a century. This year, due to Covid, we were advised to stay away from The Plain, where a small band of people were to mark the occasion on  behalf of us all. The local church service, meanwhile, could be accessed only via Youtube here – but what a remarkable job Reverend Thomson, organist and choirmaster Ben Humphries made of it.

100 Years of Commemoration

I was glad that I had earlier this year been able to attend the special ceremony held to mark the war memorial’s 100th anniversary, which thankfully fell between lockdowns. All the same, it had to be socially distanced.

Photo of service to mark 100th anniversary of war memorial

The apparently sparse attendance is a poignant contrast with the archive photo of the crowds who attended the memorial’s unveiling in 1920.

sepia photo of unveiling in 1920
Who could have foretold that only a generation after the village turned out to the unveiling of the war memorial, tragically the names of another generation would need to be added after the Second World War?

We Shall Remember Them

However, local respect for the war memorial and those it represents – many of whose descendants are still in the village – is as deep as ever. In 2016, Simon Bendry, who now works for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, wrote Hawkesbury at War: the Roll of Honour, a book that includes a biography of every person commemorated on the war memorial, keeping their legacy alive – an ambition he’d held since a child, passing the war memorial on his way to school each day and wondering about the stories behind the names. The book is still available for sale in our community village shop, Hawkesbury Stores.

cover image of Hawkesbury at War by Simon Bendry
A biography of every man commemorated on the Hawkesbury Upton War Memorial

From the Home Front

In the meantime, I paid my own tribute without leaving my own home by knitting a poppy wreath for my front door.

photo of poppy wreath

Another first this year was of course no doorstep collection for the Royal British Legion. Their funds are much depleted due to Covid restrictions, but you can still support them online here, so that they may continue their important work supporting the British Armed Forces’ community.

We Can Be Heroes

My attempt to echo the cover of David Bowies single “Heroes”, for this years village scarecrow trail

On a lighter note, Remembrance Day licensed me to put off taking down the scarecrow that’s been perched on my front wall since the end of October as part of the annual Hawkesbury Upton Scarecrow Trail. This year the theme of the Trail was “Heroes and Villains“, which gave me the excuse to celebrate the sentiment of my all-time favourite pop song, David Bowie’s “Heroes“.

The iconic cover image that inspired my scarecrow

Just as I was about to remove him on Sunday, a car pulled up and a very nice lady asked if she could take a photo of him. Her enthusiasm made me realise the theme was still topical, even after the Trail had officially ended, so I stuck a poppy in his buttonhole and have left him there till Armistice Day on Wednesday.

A friend has suggested that after that I put a Santa hat on him and leave him there till Christmas, but as two other friends have declared they find him a bit frightening (well, it is meant to be a scarecrow!), I may give that idea a miss!

I ended Remembrance Sunday by watching the real David Bowie (far less scary) performing “Heroes” at Live Aid. Here’s the link so you can enjoy it too.

Commemorations in Wendlebury Barrow

images of ebook and paperback Finally, I just wanted to flag up a lasting tribute that I wrote in my third Sophie Sayers Village Mystery, Murder in the Manger –  a chapter that takes place on Armistice Day in the village school. This  novel begins on 6th November and ends with the village Nativity play, so if you’re after a seasonal read for right now, you know what to do…

Posted in Events, Personal life, Writing

Lest We Forget: Remembrance Day 2019

Posted on by Debbie Young
The Hawkesbury Upton village community prepares to mark Remembrance Day at the war memorial on The Plain

Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night may be lively and fun, but what means much more to me than either of these is the quieter, more dignified occasion of Remembrance Day just a few days later.

On the closest Sunday to Armistice Day (11th November), in our corner of the Cotswolds, we gather by the Village Hall to begin a group procession to the war memorial on the Plain ( our equivalent to a village green). There prayers are said, hymns are sung, and a rendition of the Last Post precedes our minute’s silence. It is a simple and moving ceremony that unites the community in honouring our war dead.

photo of Alice in Wonderland scarecrow wearing a knitted poppy
Once the frivolity of Halloween was over, my Alice in Wonderland scarecrow, on the Hawkesbury Upton Scarecrow Trail, donned a hand-knitted poppy as  her mark of respect

Festival of Remembrance

On the previous Friday, a special Festival of Remembrance is held in the parish church of St Mary sharing music, poetry and readings. The church is decorated by Linda Fairney with hundreds of knitted and crocheted poppies and lit withe dozens of candles. Transparent perspex figures representing lost local servicemen sit on the pews among the congregation.

A particularly moving component of the service is the commemoration of each man lost in the wars. This is delivered by churchwarden and chair of the Friends of St Mary’s, Air Marshall Sir Ian Macfadyen KCVO, CB, OBE, FRAeS , and Simon Bendry, Programme Director for the UCL Institute of Education’s First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme, who was born and raised in the village.

Ian announces each man’s name, then Simon recounts a brief biography – where each man lived and worked in the village before the war, a summary of his war record, how he died, and how the news of his loss was conveyed to his wife or mother. As each name is announced, a child from the 1st Hawkesbury Guides lays a poppy on a cross on the altar steps to commemorate the life lost.

Many of the surnames on the war memorial are still present in the village, generations later. It is a sobering reminder that war affects us all, no matter how far from the front line.

Simon Bendry, who grew up in the village, has written a book about all those remembered on the war memorial – a very special local record for our community.

An Outpouring of Poppies

I am glad this year to see that so many communities are continuing the practice established for the WWI centenary of making elaborate public installations of knitted or crocheted (and therefore weatherproof) poppies. Some people were concerned that after the centenary year was over, the public might lose interest in the occasion, but there are no signs of that around here.

I’ve also seen impressive displays in unexpected places, such as this banner, its message spelled out in knitted poppies, in the atrium of Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where I went to an appointment on Wednesday.

 

banner on wall with "we will remember them" spelled out in knitted poppies
In the atrium of Southmead Hospital

My Own Small Tribute

When so much of the world seems in turmoil, and anxieties are high, to me it seems more important than ever to come together as a community to espouse common values. That’s why in my novel Murder in the Manger, in which the story begins on 6th November, I took pains to include a similar ceremony in my fictitious village of Wendlebury Barrow, this time held in the village school and involving all ages. (Simon Bendry kindly read it for me before publication to make sure it was appropriate.) In Chapter 14, entitled “We Can Be Heroes”, Carol, the village shopkeeper says “Just because we’re a little village doesn’t mean we can’t produce heroes.” That is my personal and lasting tribute to the heroic young men from so many villages like ours who gave their tomorrows for our todays. We will remember them.

 

Posted in Personal life, Writing

For Remembrance Day

Posted on by Debbie Young
Lest we forget
cover of Hawkesbury At War by Simon Bendry
A moving tribute by a fellow villager (click image for more information about this important book)

I’m lucky enough to live in a village with a profound sense of community, and never is it more strongly visible than on Remembrance Sunday.

On Remembrance Sunday, villagers come together to process down the High Street from the former Hawkesbury Hospital Hall (built to nurse injured soldiers in wartime) to the war memorial on the Plain (our village green) at the centre of our village. All local groups are involved, either in laying wreaths at the service or taking part in services in school or in church or in one of our two chapels.

I don’t remember this degree of commemoration when I was my daughter’s age, living in suburbia in the 1960s.

Perhaps the war was still too close for my parents’ and grandparent’s generation – they wanted to forget. Although it’s now so much longer since the end of the Second World War, I feel much more conscious of it now.

Cover of Murder in the Manger
This Christmas special includes commemorations on Remembrance Day

For this reason, and slightly to my surprise, I found myself writing it into the Christmas special of my latest cosy mystery novel, Murder in the Manger, whose timeline runs from 6th November to the week before Christmas.

My Sophie Sayers Village Mysteries are essentially comedies, but there’s always at least one serious, and, I hope, moving scene. One such scene that I found myself writing in Murder in the Manger takes place on Armistice Day (11th November) in the village school, in which villagers join the children in the village school. During a short service of commemoration, the children recite the names on the war memorial, many of whom, as in Hawkesbury Upton, are still represented in the village by their descendants (Chapter 13 We Will Remember Them). It also draws the reader up to consider who in their acquaintance would be called up to fight should there ever be another such war. (Chapter 14 We Can Be Heroes)

I know that is something I consider every year, as I stand quietly at our war memorial during the service there, observing the young men and women in the crowd who would be sent to fight, or who would not have long to wait for their call-up papers. My daughter, her friends, and her peers.

This small episode in my novel is my small tribute to those that sacrificed their lives in both World Wars and to their bereaved families and all those who loved them, not just in Hawkesbury Upton, but all around the world.

We shall remember them.

poppy field image in public domain
Posted in Family, Writing

Pray Fill Your Glasses for 2016

Posted on by Debbie Young

In my December column for the Tetbury Advertiser, I tried to put the tumultuous events of 2016 into perspective

Cover of Tetbury Advertiser December 2016As 2016 draws to a close, few will mourn its passing. From the start, it seemed a blighted year, robbing us of many national treasures and bringing us Brexit and President-Elect Trump.

Scrolling back through the year to seek more positive memories, I discover the event that filled me with most hope was the centenary of the Somme.

Ironically, one of the bloodiest battles in human history became a source of hope when at 7:30 AM on July 1st, vast numbers of people gathered nationwide to commemorate those who gave their todays for our tomorrows, and again on Remembrance Day last month. It was heartening to see people from throughout society turn out for these events, including many young people and children. It is especially heartening that so many of the youngest generation want to honour them though very few have met anyone born during that era and perhaps feel no immediate personal connection.

Celebrating Cousin Nina

Nina and Laura together
My grandma’s late cousin Nina, who celebrated her 100th birthday in May, with my daughter Laura last year

My daughter is lucky to be an exception. She has been able to get to know my grandma’s cousin Nina, born before the Battle of the Somme began. We helped her celebrate her hundredth birthday this year. Each time we visit her, we feel we are touching history and witnessing at first hand the human instinct to survive in the face of adversity. Nina has been widowed four times, but is currently single, as common parlance has it. (Sadly, Nina passed away just after I wrote this column –  but rather that blame 2016, I view her survival to 100 more of a miracle than a curse.)

Reasons to be Cheerful

Such special occasions lift my spirits beyond the quagmire of the daily news headlines.

Every day brings reasons to be hopeful, if only we remember to look for them.

Yes, I know that’s easy for an optimist to say. I realise not everyone is such a Pollyanna like me. During an interviewed the other day on BCfm Radio, I told the presenter, historian and historical novelist Lucienne Boyce, that I’m a glass-half-full person. I was amused by her response “I’m the kind of pessimist that can’t even see the glass”. Perhaps for 2017 we should each resolve to find out glass and fill it.

A Force for Good

We may look back on 2016 as an annus horribilis, but as future generations will discover, it will also be a year when great men and women were born who will in time be a force for good. If you’ve become a parent or grandparent this year, you’re probably agreeing already.

To encourage sceptics, here’s a reminder of two great men born in 1916:

  • Francis Crick, Nobel laureate, co-discoverer of DNA’s molecular structure, arguably the most important scientific discovery of the 20th century
  • mould-breaking author Roald Dahl, who has brought laughter and comfort to readers young and old for generations

If such greatness can come forth phoenix-like from such desperate times, maybe everything will come right for us too.

I wish you peace, joy and love this Christmas, and may your glass remain full in the New Year.

Posted in Events, Personal life

Sombre for the Somme Centenary

Posted on by Debbie Young

A post about the Somme centenary service in Hawkesbury Upton and Simon Bendry’s new book commemorating Hawkesbury’s war dead and war veterans

Panoramic photo of hills around Hawkesbury
The Somerset Monument, commemorating a local officer in the Napoleonic Wars, towers above my village, Hawkesbury Upton

Sometimes looking around our village, nestling comfortably on the last of the Cotswolds before the landscape tumbles down into the Severn Vale, it’s easy to believe that this is a safe and privileged place, untouched by human conflict.

That is, until you notice the village war memorial, marked by a simple cross on the Plain, as our small village green is known. Surrounded by historic houses and the traditional pound, where stray livestock would be impounded for the collection, the war memorial is a daily reminder that during both World Wars many members of our community served their country in HM Armed Forces, a substantial number never to return. Some of these were lost while serving in the Somme.

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