Dozens of residents in Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge took part in special ceremonies to mark Armistice Day on Thursday (November 11th).
The ceremonies took place in Burnham High Street and at Highbridge’s Memorial Garden to honour all who have fallen since WWI, including the 111 servicemen killed in Afghanistan in the past year.
The silence, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, represented the moment when all guns stopped at the end of World War I.
Burnham’s gathering of almost 50 people included Royal British Legion members and Mayor Michael Clarke and Mayoress Maria Clarke, as pictured here.
And Highbridge War Memorial Trustees also held a short service of remembrance in the town’s Memorial Garden at Southwell House, conducted by local clergy. A wreath was laid by the town’s Deputy Mayor, Cllr Janet Keen, and a poem was read by local resident Irene Harvey.
Members of Burnham’s Royal British Legion at Thursday’s ceremony
A flag bearer led the proceedings outside the Somerset and Dorset pub
Residents in Southwell Gardens at Thursday’s ceremony
The following poem written by Highbridge resident Irene Harvey, pictured above, was read by her at Thursday’s ceremony:
The mist as a shroud enveloped the land
Would today be the end
Would it be our last stand
Muffled sobs, cries of despair
The terror and torment, yes they were there
An intolerable burden was placed upon us
A burden so hard to bear
We felt sadness, felt neglected
How could this be. Didn’t anyone care?
The rat-a-tat of machine guns
Stifled cries of pain
A volley of shots from a rifle
Repeated, again and again
Unimaginable scenes of suffering
Acrid smoke filling the air
An air of foreboding was with us
Fear was always there
We spoke of home so often
Families we loved so well
They said ‘love your enemy as yourself’
I find this hard to do
How can we love the enemy
Men we fought and never knew
At last we saw the horizon
God, led us to pastures new
Gathering us in the loving embrace
We now live a life so new
And now today, in lands far away
Wars are still fought by night and day
In the searing heat of the desert
Men are fighting losing their lives
We still wonder why? What for?
Remember them as dawn breaks
And when twilight shadows fall
Pay homage to those valiant men
Who bravely gave their all
