Sunday, November 11, 2012
Crawley Remembrance Day 2012.
The sun was shining.
I thought it might be a good idea to walk into town to see The Remembrance Day parade.
We attended the ceremonies around Chichester war memorial once, having walked from the cathedral. It had felt very moving.
Sadly today's effort was a let down.
We arrived in the High Street as groups of cadets assembled. There were a few old men carrying the standard flags and groups of lads and girls.
They paraded down the driveway into the grounds of St. John's Church, but instead of taking postions around the war memorial went straight into the church.
Hundreds of people waited outside - including Bill and me.
We stood, waiting for things to happen.
The eleven o'clock chimes rung out - no last post on a bugle - and the Rector of the church then began to speak from within the church with his voice being relayed out to the throng by a dodgy loudspeaker.
He stopped and we all observed silence....for how long? I don't know, there was nothing to indicate that the traditional 2 minutes was up.
In Chichester the silence was observed by all standing round the war memorial, with flags lowered - just as it is at The Cenotaph in London.
There was some slight embarrassment, as people began to whisper to each other and then talk normally amongst themselves. Were they speaking too soon?
Then the Rector, in typical pompous rector type voice, began his sermon. It went on and on and on. Maybe he had some important things to say, but people outside were not listening. In fact as time went on, most of them drifted away.
Just as you though he might be about to stop, he began again.
It was not what people needed.
They needed time and space for their own thoughts, not his.
Eventually we also drifted away. I am not good at standing still and my back was aching dreadfully. We had been standing for three quarters of an hour.
We popped into a couple of shops...I bought envelopes in Poundland for use in the shop.
Then we just desperately needed to sit down.
Wetherspoons was calling!
It was the last day of their beer festival - an opportunity to try real ales from local breweries. You could buy 3 one third pint glasses of different beers. I enjoyed that. I ordered a small bowl of beer battered onion rings to go with it. Bill stuck to what he knew - toasted sandwich, chips and capuccino.
It wasn't long before I spied Bill's cousin, Sue. I did think I saw her husband Chris at the door of the church earlier. They had been inside - dignitaries, don't you know! Chris is a local councillor and has been Mayor fairly recently.
Sue said there had been 3 hymns after the sermon which the organ played slowly, like an old gramophone winding down!
We had a great time with them and one of their friends - reminiscing about the town in the days of our youth.
Cousin Sue, having retired from teaching is also turning her hand to politics and will stand for the county council next year.
So a disappointing time turned into a lively time.
Here are a few of my photos. At least standing around with a crowd of people gave an opportunity for people watching, and I do like portraits.
The verger.
David T.
Neighbour of Bill's when they they were boys.
We walked back through the churchyard later, to see the poppy wreaths which had been laid.
All mine!
I thought it might be a good idea to walk into town to see The Remembrance Day parade.
We attended the ceremonies around Chichester war memorial once, having walked from the cathedral. It had felt very moving.
Sadly today's effort was a let down.
We arrived in the High Street as groups of cadets assembled. There were a few old men carrying the standard flags and groups of lads and girls.
They paraded down the driveway into the grounds of St. John's Church, but instead of taking postions around the war memorial went straight into the church.
Hundreds of people waited outside - including Bill and me.
We stood, waiting for things to happen.
The eleven o'clock chimes rung out - no last post on a bugle - and the Rector of the church then began to speak from within the church with his voice being relayed out to the throng by a dodgy loudspeaker.
He stopped and we all observed silence....for how long? I don't know, there was nothing to indicate that the traditional 2 minutes was up.
In Chichester the silence was observed by all standing round the war memorial, with flags lowered - just as it is at The Cenotaph in London.
There was some slight embarrassment, as people began to whisper to each other and then talk normally amongst themselves. Were they speaking too soon?
Then the Rector, in typical pompous rector type voice, began his sermon. It went on and on and on. Maybe he had some important things to say, but people outside were not listening. In fact as time went on, most of them drifted away.
Just as you though he might be about to stop, he began again.
It was not what people needed.
They needed time and space for their own thoughts, not his.
Eventually we also drifted away. I am not good at standing still and my back was aching dreadfully. We had been standing for three quarters of an hour.
We popped into a couple of shops...I bought envelopes in Poundland for use in the shop.
Then we just desperately needed to sit down.
Wetherspoons was calling!
It was the last day of their beer festival - an opportunity to try real ales from local breweries. You could buy 3 one third pint glasses of different beers. I enjoyed that. I ordered a small bowl of beer battered onion rings to go with it. Bill stuck to what he knew - toasted sandwich, chips and capuccino.
It wasn't long before I spied Bill's cousin, Sue. I did think I saw her husband Chris at the door of the church earlier. They had been inside - dignitaries, don't you know! Chris is a local councillor and has been Mayor fairly recently.
Sue said there had been 3 hymns after the sermon which the organ played slowly, like an old gramophone winding down!
We had a great time with them and one of their friends - reminiscing about the town in the days of our youth.
Cousin Sue, having retired from teaching is also turning her hand to politics and will stand for the county council next year.
So a disappointing time turned into a lively time.
Here are a few of my photos. At least standing around with a crowd of people gave an opportunity for people watching, and I do like portraits.
The verger.
David T.
Neighbour of Bill's when they they were boys.
We walked back through the churchyard later, to see the poppy wreaths which had been laid.
All mine!
