Remembrance
The act of Remembrance has become a feature on the yearly chapel calendar. Throughout the UK a two minute silence takes place at the eleventh hour and on the 11th day of the eleventh month to remember and honour those who for our freedom have paid the price.
During the Great War and early in May 1915, Lt Colonel John McCrae saw poppies flowering bright red in the midst of battle on the fields in Flanders where heavy fighting had taken place. The sight inspired him to write the famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields’.
Moina Michael, an American, academic, was driven to make and to sell red silk poppies which were sold in England on 11th November 1921. In that year some 9 million poppies were sold raising over £106,000 to help WW1 veterans. So began the first poppy appeal.
In 1922 Major G Howson established a poppy factory that employed ex-servicemen who had been disabled in WW1. In 1926 a second factory that produced poppies for the Scottish market was opened in Edinburgh. Scottish poppies have four petals and no leaf and are therefore unlike poppies for the rest of the United Kingdom.
Remembrance Sunday is a day for the nation to remember and honour those who have sacrificed their lives to secure the freedom of others and to protect them. Two Gates Ragged School holds its remembrance service annually on the evening of Remembrance Sunday
Cradley Memorials Heritage Trail
The memorials trail consists of 16 sites in the area of Cradley.
Discover more about Boer War, WW1, WW2 and other graves and memorials of local interest by clicking on the button below:-
Remembrance Movie
CLICK: below to watch the movie .
Or visit our Video Library from
the Media menu
CLICK: Arrow to play poem soundtrack
POEM: 'OUR GRATEFUL THANKS'
By: Greta HUGHES
(B) 23.07.19 29 - (D) 16.09.2016
How often in our busy day
Do we find time to stop and say,
A word of thanks, a thought of debt,
To those who suffered and are suffering yet.
Do we appreciate the privilege
Of living without fear,
To express freely thoughts and opinions
That we all hold dear.
Do we wonder how is might have been,
Without the courage and heartache unseen,
Of those gallant people who fought for us
They might not have liked it but made no fuss.
It was a job that had to be done
Still it did no come easy to everyone.
They fought our battles, won our wars
Never a fight without a cause.
We do not say that war is right
But that freedom must be protected with all our might
We cannot always choose the way,
There is always a price for some to pay.
We should remember the people who for us fought
The price of freedom our children taught.
Not to let greed cloud our vision to care,
Of those who would steal freedom always beware.
There will always be someone who would take freedom away
The price to regain it hard to pay.
We should remember the wars that have gone
Also the battles for freedom which still go on.