016
Giving thanks in 2018
All over Kent people will come together to remember the fallen, including the 800,000 British soldiers who perished. Wreaths will be laid at war memorials in Sevenoaks, Southborough, Hawkhurst, Cranbrook, Lamberhurst, Tonbridge and many other towns and villages. In Tunbridge Wells, over 2,000 are expected at a Remembrance Day Parade attended by the mayor, local dignitaries and representatives from the armed forces. The town’s Salvation Army Band and the Orpheus Male Choir will accompany a service at the War Memorial “People are determined to do something. I’m always amazed how many people of all ages want to pay their respects,” says Dawn Gabriel from the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Age is defi nitely no barrier to remembrance – Sevenoaks’ schoolchildren are enthusiastically writing letters to WW1 veterans and posting these in a designated letterbox in the foyer of the town’s Stag Community Arts Centre. Tunbridge Wells’ Masjid Al-Noor Mosque will refl ect on the 2.5 million Muslim soldiers and labourers who fought in the trenches, far from their homelands in Africa, the Middle and Far East or India. When medical supplies ran out, some generously treated injured Allied comrades with their own traditional herbal medicines. “We’re planning to commemorate with local people and lay a wreath along with everyone else at the town’s War Memorial,” says the Mosque’s Imam, Yasser Balesaria. On 11th November Herr Halil Öztas,
the Mayor of Heusenstamm, travels to Tonbridge where he will lay a wreath. The two towns have been twinned since 1984. He says: “It will be 100 years since the end of the First World War and the end of a tragic chapter in our joint history, in which
so many of our countrymen had to endure so much suffering. It is therefore our supreme task to prevent future wars and also to defuse tensions, which may develop, by peaceful means. That is what twinning stands for, as part of a strong Europe, and the foundation for peace and freedom.” This year’s poppy appeal is alive and well. All across Kent people have had a busy autumn knitting and crocheting poppies for exotic and colourful displays in Tonbridge, Hawkhurst, Tunbridge Wells and elsewhere. In Sevenoaks’ Vine Gardens, knitted poppies decorate a replica of an archway that welcomed returning soldiers in 1918.
IN TUNBRIDGE WELLS,
OVER 2,000 ARE EXPECTED AT A REMEMBRANCE
DAY PARADE ATTENDED BY THE MAYOR, LOCAL DIGNITARIES AND
REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE ARMED FORCES
The Royal British Legion’s cuddly mascot Reggiment has been out and about a lot recently in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells collecting for the appeal, while the RBL itself has organised a series of commemorative events over the last few months. “We want to remind people that
remembrance is not just for November,” says The Legion’s Carl
Lewis. Ways to remember
Countless commemorative concerts, exhibitions, plays, talks and charity events are taking place across the county. These include Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall’s 11th November concert, In Memoriam, featuring the soprano Annette Wardell and performing patriotic hymns and music from composers associated with the war. Hildenborough’s Oast Theatre is staging
Pat Barker’s Regeneration novels, while organisers of an exhibition of local artworks
in Crowborough, featuring aspects of the Great War, are asking visitors to vote on their favourite picture. You may or may not know, too, that the YMCA was instrumental in supporting troops and their families both at home and abroad during the Great War. “They provided overnight
accommodation and a meal in hostels for soldiers on the way to war, and an opportunity to say a proper goodbye to their families,” explains Richard Warner, West Kent YMCA’s Head of Fundraising. This year, the charity’s Tunbridge Wells shop is setting aside a special ‘remembrance area’ to mark the centenary of the Armistice and help shoppers to pause and refl ect on its importance.
Pealing for peace
This centenary year pays tribute to the UK’s 1,400 bell ringers killed during the Great War. Three bell-ringing sessions will take place on Remembrance Sunday – before morning service, again at 12.30pm as part of the ‘Ringing Remembers’ initiative and in the evening after the beacons are lit. More than 150 churches in Kent are expected to participate at least once, including Southborough, Sevenoaks, Westerham, Eynsford, Penshurst, Brasted, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells. Caroline Stockmann, who rings at St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, has helped co-ordinate Kent’s bell-ringing efforts. “People will hear the bells all over Kent!” she promises.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118
