We Salute the Spelthorne Fallen
We attended the Mayor Spelthorne’s event “Spelthorne Remembers Passchendaele” recently. It was a mix of historical perspective by Nick Pollard and poetry reading by Carole Boyd. On the 100th anniversary of the third battle of Ypres, known as the battle of Passchendaele, and as we near the 11th November, it was a poignant evening of remembrance. The roll call of the Spelthorne fallen, juxtaposed with the hellish images of the battlefields made me rather emotional. We see Manhandling a field gun through the mud (photo Imperial War Museum) the names of the fallen on the local war memorials, but pass by to do our shopping. We cannot possibly imagine the horrors these people went through and witnessed. Passchendaele became infamous for the scale of casualties and the horrendous mud. The heaviest rain for 30 years had turned soil into a quagmire. Seeing images of water filled holes, I had not appreciated that the water had filled in the shell holes, places the soldiers could hide in this plain. Not only that, these holes became so deep that men and horses drowned in them. The war poems told the stories of horrors from the perspective of the soldiers, their loved ones and the survivors. We must hope we never see anything like this again. The evening finished with he audience joining in singing patriotic songs. The event was one of several raising money for the Mayor of Spelthorne’s charities: The Swan Sanctuary, Spelthorne Dementia Support and the Spelthorne Community Boat, ‘Impossible Dream’.
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