WORLD WAR ONE COMMEMORATIONS IN WHALEY BRIDGE, DERBYSHIRE

On Monday evening, my family and many others, of all ages, gathered around the war memorial in Whaley Bridge Memorial Park, with candles, for the 'Lights out' vigil, to mark the outbreak of the First World War, one hundred years ago.

It was very moving indeed, and after a period of silence, wartime songs were sung, poems and diary entries were read out, and a real sense of community filled the air. Clearly those who lost their lives during that conflict have not been forgotten and hopefully never will be.

Upon our return home that evening, my husband reached for a notepad and began to scribble the following poem. This is totally uncharacteristic of him. He has not written a poem since he left school quite a few years ago! Clearly the 'Lights Out' vigil moved him a great deal.

I like it very much and, with his tentative permission I have reproduced it below in case it is of interest to you.

They stood in the water

They stood in the mud

They stood in the gore

the filth and the blood

They fell in the water

They fell in the mud

They fell in the gore

in the filth and the blood

The mud it did claim them

Many never were found

Those that were buried

live forever in foreign ground

Though time it has passed

We remember them still

Killed by common men

who bore them no ill will

Sent to their deaths
by Kaiser and Kings
When will man learn
to stop doing these things?

PRAYER SERVICE HELD BEFORE THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME