The hot temperatures today didn’t stop Beavers, Cubs and Scouts turning out from Woking District for the July edition of the Brookwood Last Post.
We had nine Standards on parade, five from the Scouts with Mrs Sue Stallard parading the BLP Standard.
We remembered Brookwood resident Wilfred Bolingbroke. Wilfred was the son of Alfred. He lived at The Homestead – now 142 Connaught Road. He enlisted in Bisley, joining the third battalion of the Tank Corps (formerly the Machine Gun Corps). He served as a private in Flanders and France. It is highly likely that he was part of the Battle of Cambrai-St. Quentin (27th September – 9th October 1918). This was the main British contribution to the attack on the Hindenburg line and succeeded in pushing back the Germans to the River Selle.
The war was to last just one month more, but sadly Wilfred was killed in action on 8th October 1918, aged just 22 years. He is buried in the Busigny Cemetery in Northern France.
Although we performed the long ceremony, we substituted the second hymn with the poem ‘The Life of a Soldier’ by Jodi M. Kucera.
Our bugler was Mrs Ruth Moore and our Padre was Bert Steed.
Afterwards we had some refreshments round at The Trench Experience.
Brookwood Last Post 