From Flanders to The Somme...Your photographs.

[genjen]

That's a really good link - I have been reading it again myself today. So now, if anyone wants to know the full story, use Lydart's link and I'll just post a few more photographs.

[genjen]

And a couple of the chapel....

[genjen]

One of the 'exhibits' was a film, made within the last few years, of how a concert party would have been in the house. As we walked round, we could hear the music and when we finally reached it, we sat down to watch. The two main performers had white make-up on their faces, which meant that it was a minute or two before I realised that the one with the melodeon was actually someone who is one of my favourite performers on the British folk circuit. Ceilidh Man has actually worked with him a few times but still didn't recognise him at first. Although I knew that he has done a lot of work on songs from the WW1 era, including an album of music and songs from the time of the Christmas Truce, it was still very strange to see him on the screen.

I do have more photos of the house and garden but am going to move on to the next cemetery now.

[J.J.]

Well how emotional is that? Tears flowed through the whole reading....always wrenches at my heart to see all those fellows in row upon row...Nice of you to share of yourself like that, gen... I imagine your great uncle led you right to his place of rest...and your words were likely more solid a gift than any flowers... J.J.

[Lydart]

Wow Jen ... now I'm feeling all emotional, even though I don't have any near rellies in the cemeteries ... those Talbot House pics remind me of my very sensitive Uncle Jack who was in WW2 ... he was in Belgium at the end of the war, and came back 'shell shocked' by what he'd seen and had been asked to do.  Being what I suspect was gay, he suffered as much from the hands of the other soldiers as from what he saw.   He used to go to the chapel at Talbot House for respite; I think that chapel saved his sanity ...

[genjen]

I rather think that Tubby Clayton and the other staff at Talbot House saved the sanity of many people.

For myself, there was an additional bonus. In the house itself there is always an english speaking person, to help visitors and to answer any questions. I mentioned that my great uncle was buried in Lijssenthoek and having established the day on which he died, I was the shown on the map exactly where he would have been fighting. I had a short private lesson on the Third Battle of Ieper, or Passchendaele, as we are more likely to know it. I would have liked to stay much longer to learn more but time was getting on, so that's for next time.


From Poperinge, we headed into Ieper ( I shall give it its Belgian name, even though we all know it better as Ypres). And just a few kilometers out of the town, my next cemetery in Vlamertinge. The first photograph is of the cross, which again, is a feature of all the CWGC cemeteries.

[genjen]

And for Madpants, here is Sapper Wolstencroft.

[kiwihalfpint]

Well how emotional is that? Tears flowed through the whole reading.....

Yep, same thing with me.


KHP

[genjen]

By the time we had found and photographed Sapper Wolstencroft, it was time to go into Ieper and to check in to our hotel. The Ambrosia proved to be very quiet, down a side street from the main square. It was small and family run, nothing glamorous but perfectly comfortable and very convenient for the town centre, museums and the Menin Gate.

Our plan was to go to the eight o'clock ceremony at the Menin Gate and then to find somewhere simple to eat. It had been a very long day and seemed ages since we came through the tunnel that morning. (Incidentally, if you haven't done it, the channel tunnel is very quick and effiicent but I still prefer the ferry. I didn't much like the ear popping thing or the slightly claustrophobic feeling.)

So we went for a little walk, checked out the restaurants and quickly realised that there wasn't a huge amount of choice for veggies but a little bistro, very close to the Menin Gate said it was open that evening and it had pasta and pizza choices, so we settled for that and went back to the hotel to have a bit of a rest and clean up before going out for the evening.

At seven thirty we went out again, planning to call in and book a table on our way to the ceremony. The restaurant was still closed but there were lights on so we thought it would open in time for the people comimg away from the gate.

At the end of November and mid week, we expected there might be a small gathering for the ceremony and were truly amazed to find that by five to eight, there were probably two hundred people there, including three school groups. The efficiency with which the officials closed the road and organised the crowd was so smooth. There were three youngsters from an English school who were there representing their school and laying a wreath. They did it with quiet dignity and I should imagine their teachers would have been very proud of them. I had intended to take photographs but somehow, when the moment came, it didn't feel appropriate and I wanted to concentrate on what was actually happening, so I'm sorry, you will just have to take my word for it that the Last Post was so moving and that even the youngest children were absolutely silent during it. I was standing very close to the panel with the name of another of my great uncles. But there are so many names, it is absolutely impossible to take in the numbers and to think that these are the ones whose bodies were never found.