Today on a very cold afternoon, around 40 people attended the Brookwood Last Post.
The poem was called ‘The End and the Beginning’, written by Polish poet WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA between the first and second worlds wars but still very much pertinent today.
Our Individual Remembrance was a first for us as he was a Polish national. Kapral (Corporal) Czeslaw Firewicz of the 1 Dyw. Gren (1st Grenadier Division) Polish Army. He died on 7 January 1944, exactly 80 years ago today aged 23. He is buried in the Polish Plot a few metres from where the ceremony was held today.
We had three Standards on parade; the BLP Standard paraded by Alan Lopez, the Royal British Legion Bisley, Knaphill and West End branch and the Artists Rifles carried by Norman Holden and Eddie Jones respectively.
Afterwards we retired to the Trench Experience to warm up.
Thank you to both Alan Meeks and Mike Hillman for the photographs.
Below is an audio recording of the ceremony for those who were unable to attend.
Unusually the rain fell just as the ceremony begun. The first time many could recall rain falling during the ceremony for several years. Many people had probably checked the weather report and stayed at home as there were fewer than 40 people in attendance.
Our Individual Remembrance was a Canadian and not for the first time, was not a victim of war, but was killed when he crashed the motorcycle he was riding. Lance-Corporal Andrew William MacIntosh, Service Number: B/72703 of the 11 Provost Company, Canadian Provost Corps died on the 3rd December 1943, exactly 80 years ago today aged 38.
He was a bar tender in civilian life, son of Andrew and Marguerite MacIntosh of Chatham, New Brunswick. He died at Wool, Bere Regis, Dorset due to a fractured skull from a motorbike accident while off duty.
Our poem was The Dead, Part III of the 1914 collection of the celebrated poet, Rupert Brooke.
The Dead
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.
These laid the world away; poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
That men call age; and those who would have been.
Their sons, they gave, their immortality.
Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth.
Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.
Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
And we have come into our heritage.
Our Senior Standard Bearer, Tom Milne paraded the Union Flag and Alan Lopez the BLP Standard. We also had Standards from the Woking Royal Naval Association and the Artists’ Rifles. Mrs Ruth Moore sounded the Last Post and Peter Hills delivered his usual wisdom. The Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph were spoken by the same individual, member Denis.
Afterwards we retired to the Trench Experience where there were warm mince pies and mulled wine.
Thanks to Nigel Longley for fixing the BLP speaker, Paul McCue for the Individual Remembrance and Mike Hillman for the photos.
On a chilly and damp afternoon several hundred people attended the ceremony today. Surrey Scouts, Woking District Scouts were represented by members across all sections, and the 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band led the parade. We were honoured to have the County Commissioner Joe Rogerson in attendance.
The Gordon’s School Pipes and Drums formed the rear of the parade filling the cemetery with the sounds of their bagpipes.
Our Individual Remembrance today was Colonel John Skinner Wilson. Col Wilson was a leading figure in the Scout Association and was directly recruited by General Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement when Baden-Powell was visiting India in 1921.
Wilson ran Gilwell Park for the Scout Association in the early 1920s. He was Director of the Boy Scouts International Bureau for 15 years, responsible for co-ordinating various Scout movements within countries and between them prior to the establishment of World Scout Regions. His role included being responsible for training policy and courses for Scouts.
Wilson introduced an international Scout badge in 1939, a silver fleur-de-lis on a purple background surrounded by the names of the five continents in silver within a circular frame.
As Captain Wilson, he was a member of the British Army Intelligence Corps. He served with Military Intelligence (Research) from July 1940 and then, from December with the Special Operations Executive (SOE). In the SOE, he was determined to introduce many of the requirements for Scout badges into SOE’s training regime. Such badges, still in the Scouting syllabus throughout the wartime years can clearly be equated to SOE’s training syllabus for secret agents, and some of those badges are still awarded today.
Col Wilson did not die in conflict and died in 1969. His private papers are kept by the Imperial War Museum and may be read here.
Our poem today was The Rainbow by Leslie Coulson.
County Commissioner Rogerson delivered a highly motivational and inspirational speech about the benefits of Scouting on young people and how it equips them for later on in life.
The Last Post was sounded by a member of the 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band and the Pipers’ Lament was delivered by a lone piper from Gordon’s School.
The Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph were spoken by members of Woking Scouts.
There were wreaths laid on behalf of Surrey Scouts, Woking District Scouts, Woking District Explorer Scouts, The American Battle Monuments Commission and the Glider Pilot Regiment.
Our Standard Bearer was Alan Lopez and our Senior Standard Bearer was Tom Milne who paraded the Union Flag. Rob Bennett led prayers and a blessing prior to the 1st Claygate Scout and Guide Band playing the National Anthem.
Thank you to the Scouts for providing the sound and Mike for the photos. Thank you to Paul McCue and Graham Deeley for the research into the commemoration of Colonel Wilson.
Brookwood Last Post 