NORWICH BAND RETURNS FROM MENIN GATE CEREMONY TO PLAY BATTLE OF BRITAIN CONCERT IN THE CITY
A Norfolk brass band has just returned from Belgium where it took part in the prestigious Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres – and now it is preparing for its next engagement, a concert in Norwich commemorating the Battle of Britain.
Taverham Band was invited to take part in the ceremony, which has taken place every day since 1929 (except during the period of German occupation during the Second World War). The Gate is inscribed with the names of more than 54,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient, but who have no known grave.
Following the sounding of the Last Post by buglers of the Ypres Fire Brigade, the band played the moving ‘Hymn To The Fallen’ by John Williams, from the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’, while wreaths were laid by veterans associations and families of those commemorated at the Gate.
Now the band is preparing to play a concert marking the anniversary of the Battle of Britain in St Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich on Saturday 10th September – which will include Hymn To The Fallen. The concert will raise money for the Norfolk & Norwich Association for the Blind (NNAB).
“It was a huge honour to be invited to play at this prestigious ceremony,” said musical director Ian Colman, who was made an MBE in this year’s Queen’s birthday honours. “It is humbling that a hundred years after the conflict, the Belgian town continues to pay homage to the fallen every single night of the year.
“Hundreds of people attend the ceremony, which is a solemn and emotional occasion, and to take part was an amazing experience for the whole band, and one which we will remember for the rest of our lives.”
As well as playing at the ceremony, the band gave a two hour open-air concert in the town’s main square, and took a tour of the battlefields and cemeteries of the Ypres Salient, where battle raged almost every day of the First World War.
The Battle of Britain concert on 10th September in St Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich will also include a range of 1940s music, themes from war films and rousing marches. Tickets, which cost £8, are available by calling the NNAB on 01603 629558 or emailing fund@nnab.org.uk.
The Menin Gate Ceremony
The Menin Gate was built in the years following the 1918 Armistice as a memorial to British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the fighting around the town and who have no known grave. The Gate straddles the main road along which many thousands of soldiers marched towards the front line.
The Gate contains stone panels with the names of 54,395 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient between the start of the war and August 1917, but whose bodies were never found. In total, around 300,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers lost their lives in the Ypres Salient during the war.
The Last Post Ceremony first took place in 1928, and has taken place every day since 11th November 1929, except during the four years of German occupation in the Second World War. Every evening at 8pm, police stop the traffic in the town, buglers from the Ypres Fire Brigade play the Last Post, and L Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’ is recited.
Occasionally the ceremony is extended and bands or choirs are invited to take part, performing while wreaths are laid.