Today, with snow and ice on the ground, relatively few made it to the short Last Post Ceremony. Members who had a considerable distance to travel were discouraged from coming. As such, there were around 15 of us, and our Standard was not on parade. We followed the short ceremony.

We remembered Private Richard John De Mansfield Absolon from the Parachute Regiment, service number 24547055. Private Absolon was killed in the Falklands on 11/12 June 1982. He was a scout / sniper with the 3rd Battalion and was tasked with gaining information on the enemy deployed in defensive positions in the Mount Longdon area.

On the night of 11/12 June, with his partner, he led B Company on to Mount Longdon in the first assault to capture the position. He was tragically killed by mortar fire the next morning. He was awarded the Military Medal and was from Weybridge, Surrey.

We had Standards from the Artists Rifles and the Maverick Explorer Unit. Our bugler was Mrs Ruth Moore.

Brookwood Military Cemetery

Alan Lopez, Kevin Davis, Ruth Moore and John Kingsbury

Eddie Jones and Alan Lopez – February Standard Bearers

Afterwards we had refreshments at The Trench Experience.

Credit: war-memorial.net and Kevin Barker (photos).

Today in the relatively mild temperatures, just over 30 people attended the January Last Post. We were without our padre, and so performed the short ceremony.

We remembered two individuals; Private Walter George Woolford of the 1st Battalion, Canterbury Regiment and Pilot Officer Brian Alphonsus McConnell DFM.

Private Woolford was aged 31 when on the 6th January 1919 it is believed he was a victim of the Spanish influence epidemic. He was a New Zealander from Auckland.

Pilot Office McConnell was a member of the Royal Australian Air Force and was a navigator in a mosquito fighter-bomber with the 464 (RAAF) Squadron flying from RAF Hunsdon, Hertfordshire. He was aged 21 when he died on 6th January 1944.

Both are buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery.

Our Standard bearer was Mrs Sue Stallard, Paul McCue read the poem and Individual Remembrances and Antony McCallum was our photographer.

Afterwards we went round to The Trench Experience for refreshments.

Paul McCue reading the poem

The January Braves

Today with around 35 people attending, we performed the long ceremony.

We remembered Bombardier J Feeney. Bombardier Feeney was in the 161st Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, the ‘Scarborough Pals’. He was the husband of Lilian Feeney, of 170, Forbes Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However he wasn’t an Australian and had enlisted in the British military.

He died 100 years ago today on 2nd December 1918, after the war and it is unknown whether that was due to injuries sustained in the war or from the Spanish influenza that swept the globe.

He was 26 years old and is buried in plot XII. C. 21A in Brookwood Military Cemetery.

Our padre was Bert Steed, the Last Post was sounded by Mrs Ruth Moore, the BLP Standard was paraded by Mrs Sue Stallard and the poem and individual remembrance was read out by Paul McCue.

Afterwards we went round to the Trench Experience for refreshments.

Tony Branagan and John Kingsbury

At The Trench Experience