Mayor UllaKarin Clark places a cross onto the Field of Remembrance
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Remembrance parades to honour our fallen heroes
By Alice MurphyNovember 11, 2009
War heroes past and present will be honoured with Remembrance services across the borough today.
Wokingham Royal British Legion will walk hold a two-minute silence at Wokingham Town Hall at 11am before marching to the Red Cross centre in Denmark Street to lay wreaths to mark Armistace Day. There will also be a service in Woodley town centre.
Hundreds gathered at Remembrance Sunday ceremonies in Wokingham town centre, Winnersh, Arborfield, Finchampstead, Shinfield, Sonning, Twyford, Hurst and Wargrave.
In Wokingham councillors, dignitaries, guides, scouts and soldiers marched from the town hall in Market Place to All Saints Church in Wiltshire Road for a service before laying wreaths at the war memorial.
In Finchampstead the two-minute silence was broken by the sound of a cornet.
Councillor Roland Cundy, Finchampstead Parish Council chairman, read out words from the unveiling and dedication of the war memorial in October 1920.
He said: “They died in war that we at peace might live.
“They gave their best, so our best should give.
“Not for themselves, for justice, freedom, right, they died and bid us forward to the fight.”
The Reverend Richard Warden, from St James’ Church, led the ceremony, reading out the names of all the men from the village who had died in conflict, including Captain David Hicks, who died in Afghanistan in August 2007 and whose name was inscribed on the memorial last year.
The Shinfield service, which began with a parade from School Green to the war memorial, had music conducted by Second World War veteran Jack Clark.
Mr Clark, 87, of Hyde End Road, Shinfield, joined the Royal Naval School of Music in March 1940 when he was almost 19-years-old.
As a cornet player he played at the Royal Albert Hall.
Mr Clark, who worked with the transmitting service, was aboard HMS Penelope when it was torpedoed in February 1944.
When he first heard the noise, he went on deck and remembers the soldiers wearing duffel coats, which weighed them down, drowning them as the ship sank.
Those below deck were trapped and in all 418 men died.
He recalled: “I was in the icy water for two hours. It was so cold and took your strength – so many perished.”
For more see today’s Wokingham Times.
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