Biddenden Church, Poppy display

One hundred years ago the guns fell silent. The war to end all wars. The images both visual and in our minds will endure. The numbers killed, maimed, bereaved, displaced, wrecked by this war are beyond comprehension. We still cannot make sense of the Great War; it’s origins, strategies and the patriotism generated.

We quietly marked the moment at Tenterden where a simple parade and service with the reading of all the names of soldiers killed in the Great War (and the Second World War) was the focal point. In the two minutes silence there were spots of rain, like tears from the skies.

During the remainder of the service it rained heavily only to clear up as it ended. We walked then to the Kent and East Sussex Railway Station where a requiem was held on the platform in front of the Cavell Van, the vehicle that was used to bring the body of the Unknown Warrior from Dover to London. That van was also used to convey the bodies of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt to their final resting places.

On the way home we stopped at Biddenden to view the poppy display all around the village and especially the Church. Over 150 people had knitted poppies to “Poppy Bomb” everywhere and everything, including purple poppies on sculpture of a horse to commemorate all the animals who suffered in the Great War too.