We were delighted to hold our Festival of Remembrance again for the first time in three years on 13th November and were joined by the Mayor, Cllr Nick O’Hare, the Rt. Rev. Christopher Chessun, the Lord Bishop of Southwark, David Easton, Deputy Lieutenant for Bexley, Sir David Evennett MP, Louie French MP and many members of our local community.
As well as our focus on the men from our area who lost their lives in the First World War, we also remembered the Ukrainian people and in particular those who have fled the war to find refuge in our local community. Our readings reflected their plight and compared it to that of the Belgian refugees in the First World War, who also sought refuge in Bexley and around the country. Members of St John Ambulance carried the Ukrainian Flag and Union Flag as the Belvedere Concert Band played Mussorgsky’s Great Gate of Kiev, followed by the National Anthem of Ukraine as a mark of our solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
Richard Finch-Turner sang poignant pieces from Les Miserables, Bring Him Home and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables and we also enjoyed more pieces from the band, the East Wickham Singers and WI Choir singing Count Your Blessings and Bill Cooper playing the trumpet and Doug Snow on organ.
Thank you to our guests for giving an incredible total of over £1,500 in our retiring collection. This will be given to St John’s Church Sidcup’s Ukraine Appeal to further their valuable work with Ukrainian refugees in Bexley Borough.
Below are a selection of photos below from the day, taken by Richard Crowe and Adrian Buckenham.
Before the service
The service
