Regent's Now Magazine 2019 WEB

REGENT’S NOW FEATURES
Space is given later on in the day to reflect quietly
in the garden or to visit the Talbot House museum.
There are also visits to the Lijssenthoek cemetery and
the execution site at the Town Hall at Poperinge. Both
of these visits call to mind specific historical events,
preventing the conversation from becoming abstract
and theoretical.
On Friday, the final day of the trip, there is a
communion service in the chapel at Toc H. There
are opportunities for ordinands to lead worship in
the space, and it is in this same chapel that Kenneth
Prideaux-Brune, Chair of Toc H and All Hallows
Trust, shares stories of Tubby Clayton and his
ministry at Toc H during the war. These stories
convey a sense of familiarity that cannot be captured
in any other context.
Of her experience at the Menin Gate, Pam Davies
writes:
“Although I visited Toc H over a year ago, I can recall
my experience at the Menin Gate with remarkable
clarity. We arrived early, perhaps an hour before the
ceremony and already the Gate was full of people,
some who had travelled incredible distances to
participate in the memorial. We waited as the police
arrived and the flow of traffic was diverted elsewhere
and watched the buglers stand in line in preparation
for the call. The space was so full that people at the
back were standing on their tiptoes to make sure
they could see what was happening.
Grave of Nellie Spindler,
one of only two British
female casualties of World
War I buried in Belgium
Preserved trench at
Hill 62 in Ypres Salient
On Thursday, the theme of ‘Resolution’ is explored
in greater detail, which is reflected in the nature
of the visits which take place. Included are a mine
crater, which has now become a Pool of Peace,
a memorial to the Christmas Truce, Messines
Church and the Island of Ireland Peace Park.
The Peace Park displays a record of the words of
Terence Poulter, 7 th Royal Dublin Fusiliers:
‘This was joyous news,
approaching eleven o’clock in our sector,
you could have heard a pin drop,
when eleven o clock came there were loud cheers,
the war was over,
as far as we were concerned.’
On Thursday evening, there is a visit to the Menin
Gate, where thousands of people gather to hear
the Buglers from the Last Post Association sound
the ‘Last Post’. This war memorial is a moving
expression of thanks and gratitude for those who
made sacrifices for Belgium’s freedom.
I was standing amongst a huge crowd of people,
and in front of me I could see a much older man in
uniform. He was surrounded, presumably, by his
family. At 20:00 hours, when the ‘Last Post’ was
sounded, this perfectly composed, official-looking
gentleman, started to cry into a handkerchief he had
kept in his pocket. He did not stop weeping for the
duration of the ceremony. As I watched his reaction
and considered my own, I realised that while I was
moved by the memorial, horrified by the loss I had
reflected on during the week and thankful for the
resolution that Terence Poulter described in his
poem, I have no lived experience of war. From this
stranger’s reaction, I suspected that he most likely
did. This prompted a mixture of emotions as we
shared in a minute silence; empathy for the depth
of this person’s pain, awareness of my own lack of
understanding as to the cause of it, and immense
gratitude that because of the sacrifice of those who
have gone before us; we have not had to share in the
horrors that they have seen. I hope, as I look at global
conflict in the present day, that we will not forget the
lessons that people such as this have taught us.”
Pam Davies and Neil Jones are ministerial students;
Pam is reading for the MTh in Applied Theology (2017),
whilst Neil is a mature student reading for the BTh in
Theology (2017).
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