Reflecting on Armistice

[louisa maud]

In my local small shop area we had cadets collecting, one week Air cadets following week Army cadets, one of which was my lovely Grandson, we made a point of detouring to see him, he was supposed to be outside the one and only supermarket, well we found him inside sitting at a desk with more than just the poppy tin and poppies, after commenting on how lucky he was to be inside, a dry day I might add but chilly , he said they had taken it in turns to be inside, ordered by a senior, that at least gave them time to have a warm up, he didn't realise I was there initially, and when  a  person put money in the tin and I heard him say " have a nice day" I was so proud of him, I never saw any of them lolling  about, they were in groups  doing what they were meant to be doing.

The next day the cadets marched to the war memorial, one again all turned out smartly

So  well done Corringham Town centre  and the group who arranged the service at the Green in Stanford le Hope on Sunday  packed by apparently 3,000 people

Louisa Maud

[california dreamin]

So, in my community - on the 11th they held the usual Remembrance service at the local war memorial. Some of the trees nearby had been decorated with poppy sashes and the church across from the war memorial had a field of poppies etc.  In the town centre, some organisation had paid for lamp post poppies which looked very nice.  However, a couple of weeks before the 11th the actual state of the war memorial had been brought to my attention by someone. So, I wrote to my MP.  The actual war memorial is in a dreadful state.  It could do with a wash, the brass flower holders are corroded, the list of names (nearly 400 of them) could have done with a shine up with some Brasso, no bedding plants in the garden of remembrance, the notice board nearby with a list of names of the fallen contained a faded photo copy.  Well, to me it really beggars belief. It's like why can't people spend their time and money caring for the existing monument rather than  decorating everywhere with knitted poppies.  Surely that should be the icing on the cake.  No reply from MP by the way...and he was there.  I think the war memorials fall under the care of the Parks Dept (not sure) and they have no budget anymore for anything. 

[louisa maud]

Reply no 36, in the village named I do belive that the village has a group that look after the war memorial, it had been cleaned before Sunday's service

Louisa Maud

[mare]

We know that the ceasefire started on the 11 hour of the 11 day of the 11 month but which time zone did they use.

John

Regardless of timezone, I'm sure it's the significance of the Armistice signing being remembered globally for the 11th hour of 11th November.

Here in NZ the 11th would have been almost over, with the news coming through to the Prime Minister just before midnight and he officially announced it via a message "Armistice signed' to our country post and telegraph offices shortly before 9am on the 12th.

At the time NZ was in the midst of the 1918 Flu Pandemic ... October - December 1918 the peak ... so celebrations were delayed in some areas.

Generally ANZAC has taken the precedence over Armistice Day and wasn't celebrated as much until more recent years in NZ. I remember the very first time I observed the 2 minute silence on November 11 at 11 am, was in Australia about 25 years ago, I was in a department store in Sydney and everything stopped. Thankfully I did realise why but have never had that here, though I think more do now and certainly for the centenary more observed.