Ray told me that the flintstone wall which encloses the local churchyard was decorated with hand-knitted/crocheted poppies. So I took my camera down to have a look.
I found poppies on the wall, poppies cascading from one window and poppies on the grass among the gravestones.
More floral decorations inside and also footage from WW1 being played on a screen in front of the altar. I really liked this idea of making some attempt to imagine the unimaginable: what it must have been like for those soldiers.
I also think today of my dad spending four years away from home in WW2, three of those years in PoW camps in N Africa and Europe.
The diary he kept for the duration was very detailed and, interviewed about his wartime experiences by the Imperial War Museum when he was 61, he said:
"I haven't yet been able to get it published because it just contains the humdrum life in camp but maybe one day I'll be able to. I don't know."
If only he could know......
And thanks to Ian Douglas for his generosity of time and expertise in the publication, and to all my friends who have been interested to read it and have not found it 'humdrum':
'Till We Meet Again: Gunner Bert Martin': 1941 to 1945 (Amazon: paperback/kindle)
That’s a very encouraging comment, thank you, Tim.
I hope you will enjoy the book!
Peter, thank you for your lovely words.