War Memorial Board and Remembrance Sunday 2018

The faculty for our new War Memorial Board was granted in December and it has now been permanently affixed in its place in the Church Baptistery. We were pleased that Mrs Brenda Hayward who paid for the Board in memory of her husband Squadron Leader Philip James Haward, RAF (RTD) M.B.E. was able to see it its it permanent position when she was briefly visiting Torquay from her home in Spain.

Here is a photograph of the Memorial in its permanent position:

The War Memorial Board was dedicated during our Remembrance Sunday Service on November 11th 2018, as described below.

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Remembrance Sunday 2018

Our Remembrance Sunday service on Sunday November 11th began at 10.15.a.m. and reached its climax at 11.00.a.m. - just in time for the Two Minutes Silence which we observed with the entire country.

This year's Remembrance Sunday was especially significant, because it was the One Hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in 1918, which effectively brought the First World War to a close.

Here at St. Martin's, the occasion was even more important, because a new War Memorial was dedicated at the service, on which is inscribed the men of Hele and Barton who died in the two World Wars.

We know that within our community are many descendants of the men whose names are shown here, and we are glad that some of these were able to attend our Remembrance Sunday Service.

There has never been a complete War Memorial at St. Martin's Church until now. Among the various reasons for this, is principally that Hele and Barton were part of the parish of St. Marychurch until 1960, and the names of those who died from Hele and Barton were inscribed on the Memorial at St. Marychurch, but there was no public Memorial in the actual community of Hele and Barton.

St. Martin's has been the Parish Church for Hele and Barton since 1960, and - coming up to the sixtieth anniversary of the creation of Hele and Barton as a separate parish - the lack of a War Memorial actually in St. Martin's Church has been an omission which is long-overdue in being filled.

A facsimile of the new Memorial - which is an inscribed board of English oak with black lettering - is shown below. The Memorial has been given in memory of a peace-time ex-serviceman, Squadron Leader Philip Haward, RAF, MBE, who died in 2015, and who was a long-time resident of Barton and a Churchwarden at St. Martin's.

We were delighted to have a good representation at the service of uniformed members of the 11th Torbay (Barton) Scouting Troop.

During the Service Father Gorran delivered a thought-provoking sermon on the theme of Promises - commencing with the Promise that the Scouts make on joining, talking about the promises that we all make as part of ordinary life and also how important it is to keep them even when it is inconvenient or costly to do so.

He then moved on to Britain's entry into the First World War, to keep a Promise. "Will Britain go to War for a scrap of paper?" asked the German Chancellor - and the famous answer was: "No, not for a scrap of paper, but rather that treaties may be held sacred, that the weak may be defended, that promises may be honoured, that the world may be made safe for small and vulnerable nations, and that the power of the mailed fist shall be broken." And so the promise was kept, paying a huge and terrible price.

Finally, he spoke of our National War Memorial - the Cenotaph (which is Greek for "empty tomb") in London. This reminds us of Jesus' resurrection from the dead, and God's ultimate promise to each of us - that "your tomb will one day also be empty, because you will be found not among the dead but among the living"

Our new War Memorial Board prior to its unveiling and Dedication, covered by the Union Flag.

The floral tributes were from the widow and family friends of Squadron Leader Philip Haward,

in whose memory the new Memorial was given.

After the Remembrance Sunday service, we see pictured here from left to right:

Russell Buckingham, Churchwarden,

Lucy Price of the 11th Torbay (Barton) Scouts bearing the Union Flag,

Parish Priest, Father Gorran Chapman, who dedicated the Memorial,

Brenda Haward, of Alicante, Spain, formerly of Hele Village, who gave the Memorial Board in memory of her husband Squadron Leader Philip James Haward, RAF (RTD) M.B.E. 1946-2015, late of Great Hill, Barton,

Elizabeth Price, bearing the Unit flag,

Helen Buckingham, Churchwarden

Our new War Memorial Board after unveiling and Dedication, with the wreaths as laid, together with fifty individual poppies - one for each name on the Board.