Attendance at the Remembrance Sunday services grows and grows. This year was no exception to that important trend. Colonel Mary Cardwell and the Principal of the British School of Monaco read the Exhortation and Kohima. The lessons were read by Hope Swales and Russell Crump. Group Captain Andy Calame (The King’s Honorary Bodyguard) the Honorary President of the Provence – Monaco Branch of the Royal British Legion processed in with a Warship Union Flag that had been recently discovered in a garage in Nice, children form the British School presented Poppy posies and the sons of the French Ambassador did likewise with a beautiful display of Bluets. The children must be congratulated for their turn out, discipline and deportment in front of a packed Church.
The Last Post, Reveille and the Piper’s lament cemented the whole service together with poignancy that can only be experienced in by being there at the time. Following on from the service a gathering took place at the bust of Sir Winston Churchill with numbers swelling from last year.
This year the national flags of Australia and Canada were on parade, carried by nationals from those Commonwealth countries along with the Union Flag and that of the USA. It was most pleasing that a Canadian from St Paul’s read the poem “In Flanders Fields” composed by Lt Colonel John McCrae of the RCAMC. On Armistice Day Solemn Evensong was offered during which a Toc H lamp from World War One was lit as the sound of the Highland pipes could be heard in the distance recalling those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Remembrance is so important as a constant challenge to easy armchair cynicism and a reminder that today we need to be ever thankful for those who continue to serve and keep us safe.
I am immensely grateful for those who make this all possible and to the ongoing commitment to the Act of Remembrance. Branch RBL numbers continue to increase rapidly with the age profile going down. I will happily point anyone in their direction should they wish to support the vital responsibility of “holding high the torch.”
