Remembrancetide at St Edmund's - 2008

Date: Tuesday 11 November 2008

Most of the country celebrated the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice which ended World War One in 1918 with events and services throughout last weekend, but St Edmund's offered its own tribute to the fallen in a service this morning, at the 'eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month'.

In addition to remembering the 93 Old Boys of the School who gave their lives in the two wars, we also welcomed to the congregation a dozen guests from the family of Benjamin Handley Geary, an Old Boy of the School who won the V.C. (Victoria Cross) for his gallantry at Hill 60 in the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. Geary had been a member of St Edmund's from 1904 to 1910, and in his latter years had been the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ontario State Legislature in Ontario, Canada. His 81 year old son had made the long journey from Canada to be with us this morning.

The service was absolutely traditional with Last Post and Reveille circling the two minutes silence at 11.00am. The choir sang the anthem 'For the Fallen' with Binyon's words being set to music by Peter Irving. This led into a brief biographical introduction, before the Chaplain dedicated a memorial plaque to Geary, the plaque now located at the entrance to Chapel, on the right hand side as you go in.

The service has a poignancy still, with current former pupils serving abroad and risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.