Sandbag - Wincanton RBL Newsletter: October 2011
Download the full edition (PDF)
Summary
Editor Tony Goddard - 01963 824193
Secretary Arthur Pickup - 01963 32952
Branch Meetings for 2011 and 2012 - Wincanton Memorial Hall - Monday at 7 p.m.
7th November (AGM)
19th December
Coffee Mornings for 2011 - Wincanton Memorial Hall - Saturday at 10 a.m.
29th October
Trips and Events for 2011
23rd October - The trip to Taunton for the County Poppy Appeal Launch has been cancelled
29th October - Gala Concert Wincanton Silver Band
2nd November - Bingo in the Methodist Hall
5th November - Festival of Remembrance at the Colston Hall Bristol
19th December - Pre Christmas lunch at Ottery St. Mary.
Remembrance Period Events
We will observe the national Two Minutes Silence around the War Memorial at 11.00 a.m. on Friday 11th November with assemble at 10.45 a.m.
After the Two Minutes Silence and wreath laying all those who wish will go to the Old Faithful Memorial on Bayford Hill where wreaths will be laid and prayers said.
On Remembrance Sunday, 13th November, the traditional Church Parade will assemble at 2.00 p.m.
New Union Flag
I am very pleased to say the new Union Flag arrived in time for the Annual Dinner and was shown to the branch at the October branch meeting. Our Chaplain Rev. Nigel Feaver will dedicate the new standard at the Remembrance Sunday church service. We are most grateful to those members whose donations made the purchase possible. THANK YOU.
90 years on
Following on with our reflection of the last 90 years of the Royal British Legion Steve Lee has prompted me to let you know a bit about Col. John McCrae who wrote the poignant poem "In Flanders Fields" which now forms part of our heritage.
The Flanders Poppy was first described as the "Flower of Remembrance" by Colonel John McCrae, who before the War was a well known Professor of medicine at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. He had previously served as a gunner in the South Africa War and at the outbreak of the First World War decided to join the fighting ranks. However, the powers that be decided that his abilities could be used to better advantage, and so he landed in France as a Medical Officer with the first Canadian Army contingent. At the second battle of Ypres in 1915, when in charge of a small first aid post and during a lull in the fighting, he wrote, in pencil, on a page torn from his dispatch book, the following verses;
In Flanders' fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' fields.
It is believed that the inspiration for the poem came from the burial of McCrae's friend and former student Lt. Alexis Helmer who had been killed in battle and that it was written at the site, of what is today, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Essex Farm in Belgium.
The verses were sent anonymously to Punch Magazine and published under the title "In Flanders' Fields".
In January 1918 Colonel McCrae was brought as a stretcher case to one of the large hospitals on the channel coast of France. On the third evening he was wheeled to the balcony of his room to look out over the sea towards the cliffs of Dover. The verses were obviously in his mind, for he told the doctor who was in charge of his case:
"Tell them this,
If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep."
The same night McCrae died, 28th January 1918 of pneumonia. He was interred in a beautiful cemetery on rising ground above Wimereux, two kilometres from Boulogne, from where the cliffs of Dover are easily visible on sunny days.
Comments
Login to comment!