From the Vicarage - March 2010

During Lent this year apart from attending the Study Groups which are meeting in our local churches, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Fromelles in Northern France with my friend Steve, and to be present for the final day of reburials of soldiers from the 1st World War. We were deeply fortunate to be there on the last day when we saw 17 soldiers each given a very dignified funeral service, complete with chaplains and soldiers from Australia and England, representing the Regiments that were engaged in the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. The final body will be laid to rest during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the battle on 19th July.


This was a unique opportunity to be there as a new Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery has been created at the site near to where the mass grave of 250 soldiers was found 2 years ago. I don’t think it has been possible so far to identify any of them from the remains and artefacts that were found, although soldiers from the old Oxon & Bucks Regiment (now part of The Rifles) were fighting alongside the Australian Infantry Force at the time.

I shall leave the detail of this visit for another time when I may write an article on the trip, but what struck me was how these young men had willingly left their families, some of them on the other side of the world, to fight for their country and for our freedom, in absolutely dreadful conditions and for people they would never know. My mind went to the way in which Jesus Christ left his own family to give his life in the service of humanity, and for people whom he did not know.

As we make our own journey through Lent we also have the celebration of Mothering Sunday, knowing that many mothers and their families will be mourning the loss of their children, some of whom have been killed in the conflicts that this country and others are still engaged in around the world. Whilst the loss of life in these conflicts has been significant over far too many years, I’m sure that the soldiers and their families would not wish the loss of their lives to have been in vain. As Christians we know that the death of Jesus Christ that first Easter was not in vain, but was used by God to help us find a new way of living and of loving our neighbour, and especially those that we find it difficult to love.

With every blessing, Rev Ron