The Rain Kept Off And The Traffic Halted Respectfully

While we gathered at The Cenotaph in Llangunllo. There were many familiar local faces as well as those of visitors from further afield. As ever, representatives from the parishes of Beguildy, Bleddfa, Heyope and Llangunllo as well as Gravel Baptist Chapel, the Community Councils and Llangunllo W.I. came to read the names of the fallen and lay their respective wreathes. The hymn was given a special lift by a trombone accompaniment that later gave us the haunting strains of the Last Post and Reveille.

As the ceremony drew to a close the tolling of St Cynllo’s bell called us up the hill for a short service. Decked out in displays of poppies the church effectively caught the mood of the day being not only poignant but also warm and welcoming.

Different kinds of memorials were spoken of including one that stands at Paddington Station of a soldier in full trench uniform who is reading a letter whose writer and contents are unknown. It was this memorial that inspired an incentive to ask for letters to be sent in imagining what that letter might have said. This was to be an archive which would act as a memorial to mark the centenary of the outbreak of WW1.

From the book that followed (Letter to an Unknown Soldier) including just some of those contributions, we took our reading – a touching letter from one brother to another. He was sending a piece of twine cut off the length that was being used to tie up the tomatoes -sent as a reminder of home and a plea for the beloved soldier to return home safe. An eloquent reminder, if any was needed, of those associations with which we can all identify.

A service that had gratitude at its heart reminded us that we should not take our own lives for granted nor forget the suffering of others. We should be ever mindful of those words repeated every year – “For their tomorrow we gave our today.”

Words: Pam Livingstone-Lawn Photos: Michael Brown