On Remembrance Sundays in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 we have read out in the intercessions the names of all those we knew of from the parish who had given their lives. This list was compiled from the War Memorial, the burial register and the parish magazines – a lot from the parish magazines. But the parish magazine was discontinued in 1918 because of a shortage of paper so our list for 1918 is incomplete. Apparently names were to be added to a Roll of Honour kept in the porch but whatever happened to that Roll, and I can’t believe it was thrown away, it hasn’t come down to us in our archive so the dead from 1918 will go largely unremembered. I don’t say “forgotten” because how could any of us forget the terrible number of lives lost in the Great War? But unnamed. Unless any of you have connections with Hampstead in 1918 and have names of your own to add? Rather than a list read out and hard to take in we are going to include in our poppy display a chance for all of us to remember our own “war dead”.
Labels will be provided on which you can write a name – then tie it to the chancel rails amongst the poppies. And there will be one for each of the men from the parish. We’ll make the labels available for a couple of weeks, from Sunday 28th and leave some out during the week as well, with a container to put completed ones. Because the Requiem is a focus of our Remembrance it would be nice to have the names up by then and I’ll add any left in the office the previous week but you can, if you prefer, bring your label and tie it on yourself on Sunday morning before the main service of Remembrance (the 10.30 am Eucharist)
Remembrance Sunday
Judy East