Remembrance Sunday

[Viktoria]

There was always two minutes silence at 11 11 11 ,no matter what day.
Then Tony Blair sort of did away with it!
Now,it is often the case that traffic on the street where the church is, just drives through the silence,through The Royal British Legion,Army Cadets, Scouts etc
There is quite a good crowd of people standing quietly ,but nothing seems to register with some!

The restored and coloured archive film “ They shall not grow old “ is on tonight at 10- 45.BBC  2 .
One scene where the men are resting , along a bank ,ten minutes later they were all dead.
It looks so like a place now called Butterworth Trench ,the composer George Butterworth was killed there , he wrote The Banks of Green Willow.
His name is on the Thiepval Memorial as his body was never found.
We walked there and there was one poppy growing ,I looked to see if there were a few seeds left in a  dead head.
 It was empty but I did find a webbing spacer ,all twisted.
All those years ,it would be early 1990’s .at least 80 years.
 Viktoria.

[RRTB]

Viktoria, thank you for posting the poem.

I only found out by chance about the RBL asking people to stand at their front doors. I did so, wearing my father's and grandfather's medals, and my wife observed the silence in another part of the house. No one else in our cul-de-sac was at their door as far as I could tell. Perhaps it wasn't advertised well enough?

I watched the BBC coverage of the Cenotaph commemoration; very strange this year with no Veterans' Parade. I too was brought up to remember Remembrance Sunday as a particularly important date in the calendar. I have tried to instil the same concept of its importance in my own daughter, but it really does seem that many of her generation just don't "get it" or don't seem interested.

RRTB

 

[louisa maud]

Perhaps the younger generation doesn't " get it" God forbid we have any more wars but they will get it then

Similar I suppose to Covid, all the demonstration against wearing a mask and flaunting the fact they aren't wearing one, in todays paper showing a whole crowd of shoppers not wearing masks, you cannot tell me that the amount shown as all exempt.

I am beginning to think the world has gone mad at times

Louisa Maud

[River Tyne Lass]

I saw that film when it first came out at the cinema.  It was incredible viewing.  When things change from black and white to colour it almost takes your breath away .. you start to feel you are there.  It is a very moving film and so very sad to think you are witnessing some soldiers' last hours.  It is amazing how some of them kept up a brave front laughing and joking amongst each other.  Such brave camaraderie!

[Maiden Stone]

There was always two minutes silence at 11 11 11 ,no matter what day.
Then Tony Blair sort of did away with it!

I think you libel Tony Blair.  I don't remember pausing for 2 minutes silence on a weekday in my early working years. I've always worked in public-facing venues; I don't know what happened in workplaces not open to public. The practice was reintroduced nationally in public places in late 20th century for an important WW1 anniversary.

[Treetotal]

I can remember a time both in the workplace or around the shops when everyone stopped what they were doing to observe the silence, in our office, the phones went unanswered until the two minutes were up. Cars on the road would also come to a standstill. At home, no-one spoke until the two minutes were up, times have changed, but, I believe there is more awareness now about the impact of both wars across all generations.
When I was younger, I took poppies home from school to sell, we weren't allowed to take any unsold poppies back! But my knowledge of the two wars was very limited as people generally weren't prepared to talk about it.
Carol

[Maiden Stone]

Taken at Essex Farm Cemetery in Ypres in 2015. Notice the difference of the Canadian Poppy.

Carol

I also noticed forget-me-nots on top of the memorial. Forget-me-not is the French national flower of remembrance. They often grow in similar conditions to poppies.
I was reading a Twitter thread about "that" election yesterday. Someone posted front pages of 4 British Sunday newspapers showing reaction here. There was a poppy on each newspaper. A response asked "What's with the red flower?" I assume the responder is American.
Something I heard yesterday on the radio "Two minutes silence; one minute to think about those who came back and one minute to think about those who didn't".

[Mike in Cumbria]

Taken at Essex Farm Cemetery in Ypres in 2015. Notice the difference of the Canadian Poppy.

Carol

I also noticed forget-me-nots on top of the memorial. Forget-me-not is the French national flower of remembrance. They often grow in similar conditions to poppies.

Almost - the French symbol of remembrance is the cornflower. (I guess you knew that really).

[BumbleB]

I'm sure other people noticed, although I haven't seen any explanations anywhere.  The Queen and others were wearing a different style of poppy than the Royal British Legion poppy.  Have I missed something somewhere?  (Not unusual  )


I'll go away - I've just asked Mr Google and the Royal Family appear to have worn the same sort of poppy for a few years - not the normal Royal British Legion design.  I obviously wasn't concentrating! /color]