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Field of Remembrance 2007

As a child I was always interested in the annual Royal Festival of Remembrance which was broadcast from the Royal Albert hall. In those days the whole event was broadcast and it would last most of the evening. It would include various displays form the armed forces and military bands and end with a short act of remembrance. This whole event is now compressed into a 1 hour TV programme which I really don’t think does it adequate justice.

I have always felt a sense of appreciation for the sacrifice that people made by serving their country and making, in so many cases, the ultimate sacrifice.

Whilst on a business trip to London last week I had to walk from Westminster tube station to my meeting venue and this took me past Westminster Abbey. It is just a few days since the Armistice Day acts of remembrance which centers around the activity at the Cenitaph which is also at Westminster in London.

As I had a few minutes to spare I decided to walk through through the Field of Remembrance which is in the garden of Westminster Abbey. Here is a photo of the entrance to the location!

As I walked through I was very impressed by the large number of commemorative crosses that have been put there by people who would have known some of the individuals who died in some of the conflicts which have taken place. There were some memorials placed for people who died in the First World War. I really did find this quite a moving experience to see so many of these crosses which probably reflect only a fraction of the total amount of people who have died in conflict.

The photo below shows one part of the field and you can see that it is broken into sections that are set aside for individual regiments and other divisions of the armed forces.


In the following photo I wanted to show that there are real names on each of the wooden crosses which are placed there!


I find it difficult to explain my own feelings as I walked passed the thousands of crosses. A mixture of, a sense of reality concerning the numbers involved, a sense of gratitude that so many people died for the sake of other people future freedom; and that of course includes me and my own family. This was for me an emotional moment although I do not know any individual person who died in any of the wars.

I took some more photos which you can see – click here