Remembrance Sunday, 12 November 2018. © 2018 Nick Skeens

The article below, about the 2017 Remembrance Sunday event, was written by Councillor Nick Skeens for the Burnham and Dengie Review.  It describes a typical Remembrance Sunday event in Burnham:

The good people of Burnham were out in force on Sunday 12th November to pay their respects to the town’s Fallen – those who had paid the ultimate price in the struggle to preserve our freedoms in wars and conflicts past and present.

The crowd began gathering at the memorial before 10am, a full hour ahead of the service.

The northerly wind was cold but the sun was brilliant as, at 10.45, the smart parade arrived at the war memorial, colours and standards to the fore, played in by the Raleigh Brass Band.

Representatives of the Royal British Legion, the Town Council, Maldon District Council and Essex County Council marched to their positions, followed by serving members of the armed forces, the Air Training Corps, the emergency services, Scouts, Guides, Brownies and Cubs and schoolchildren.

The sailing community was also represented at the memorial and upon the river, conducting their traditional sail-past.

Then the hymn (‘O God, our help in ages past’) and the prayers, and the words from local ministers, before the Last Post stuttered out its moving and mournful bugle melody.

Now it was 11 o’clock and The Silence was held, broken at the end by the uplifting Reveille.

As the poppy wreaths were laid, the strong wind bowled some of them across the memorial dais, a symbol of loss and transience that prompted mournful sighs in the crowd. They were picked up and returned respectfully to their positions around the foot of the obelisk. The ceremony was concluded with the National Anthem and a blessing.

It was an intensely emotional half hour; the colours so bright, the sky so blue, the clouds so white, the wind so keen, the union flags on the Cabin Dairy windows so proud, the poppies so vividly red and the people, in their hundreds, so quiet, and, clearly, so moved.