The Littleport Branch of the Royal British Legion put on a good show for Remembrance Sunday on November 14th. And this year North East Cambridgeshire MP Stephen Barclay and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office decided it was the place to be for a commemoration service second only in my opinion to the one in London near the Houses of Parliament at the Cenotaph.
President of the RBL Littleport, Garth McGowen, ably assisted by RBL Secretary and his lady wife Margaret, organised everything in detail from the muster outside the Littleport Ex-Servicemen’s Club, the parade led off by the 363MCC bikers club, through to the sombre but uplifting service at St George’s led by the acting vicar Rev Madeleine Albert, and where the National Anthem was sung with gusto as the Union Flag flew on the tower that houses the 14- 18 war memorial clock to the fallen, emplaced in 1919.
Stephen Barclay laid a wreath alongside the leader of Littleport Parish Council Clive Webber after the crowded church service ended and the congregation of parade participants filed across to the War Memorial on the green for the next part of Littleport’s Remembrance Sunday. Wreaths were also laid by the WI, Littleport Ex Servicemen’s Club, the Littleport Society and other important village based organisations and all the scouting and guiding groups from the very youngest Squirrels members participated. Having played at 11.00 hours in the church, another poignant rendering of the Last Post and Reveille was played by Littleport Brass band member Avril Conway.
A spontaneous round of applause erupted as the service came to its close by all who were there. We will remember them.
Lyn Gibb de Swarte
