We Will Remember Them

To everyone who made a poppy for the Southend Schools Festival of Remembrance, thank you. To everyone who came to join in thank you. To all of our volunteers, thank you. To whatever kind deity allowed us to have mostly fine weather, thank you!

Last Wednesday 8th November, we started building the installation of the work of 33 organisations in the Southend-on-Sea area. It was a murky day and there were a few hitches - maybe the placing of over 5,500 items was a bit ambitious in one short November day but the team were impressive and kept going. There might well have been a late night that evening to do finishing touches but overall, the installation was a success.

Due to the size of the site we're not entirely sure how many people came to visit but we were busy each day and we had the opportunity to talk about remembrance with all ages. One wonderful moment was when the nephew of Ronald Percy Runnagal presented us with this image of his uncle in the Rose Garden seventy years ago just before he flew his last mission with Bomber Command. We will be putting up galleries of all the photographs taken by everyone in the very near future. Once again, if you supported the Southend Schools Festival of Remembrance in any way, we salute you!