Pilgrimage leads way to big Great War thank-you movement
Royal British Legion members from Shropshire are joining thousands of armed forces veterans and supporters from across the world in a historic pilgrimage to some of the most poignant sites of the Great War which will recreate an act of remembrance of 90 years ago.
More than 2,200 members of the legion are travelling to France and Belgium to echo the way the RBL commemorated the 10th anniversary of the conflict in 1928.
A series of tours to the trenches, battlefields and cemeteries from August 5 will culminate with a two-mile march to Menin Gate, Ypres, on August 8, featuring 1,100 standard bearers and 1,100 wreath layers. A service of commemoration will be held there.
August 8 also marks the centenary of the start of the so-called 100-day offensive by the Allies which ended the war, and has been chosen as the beginning of a nationwide campaign by the RBL to encourage groups and individuals to find their own way of saying "thank you" to the Great War generation for the sacrifices they made.
The "thank you" movement will run to the centenary of the end of the conflict in November, and already a number of events are lined up in Shropshire in which locals will be finding their own ways to express their thanks.
"It's a call to action," said Gina Edwards of the RBL.
"Running alongside these events, we want people to tell their stories and get involved. There is a Facebook page - Royal British Legion ThankYou100. We want to hear Shropshire stories, that's the main thing. We know they're out there, but at the moment I have only got a handful."
Jenny Robey, the legion's Shropshire community fundraiser, pointed to a number of events already in place or planned, including a giant poppy made out of flowers in a flower bed outside Shrewsbury Castle.
"It's just coming into bloom now. It was planted a while ago," she said.
"We have village fetes coming up which are doing thank yous. There's one in Whittington which is doing a poppy cascade on August 27.
"Morris's, the firm in Shrewsbury which is a fifth generation Shropshire business, is doing a 100 mile cycle ride. The firm lost a number of employees during the war. It will start at the National Memorial Arboretum on September 8."
With up to 16 cyclists taking part, the ride will take in various Shropshire locations before ending at the war memorial in the Quarry.
In Ludlow, she said, ceramic poppies had been planted a couple of weeks ago, and in Oswestry an old time music hall and variety show was planned at the Marches School by the Oswestry Musical Theatre Company on September 2.
Among other events is a tea dance in November held by Holy Trinity Church in Wrockwardine Wood, Telford.
Gina said: "We would love to know what people are doing as their own thank yous, so we are encouraging people to tell us and the local media, and get photographs.
"This is really important in Shropshire, and through the King's Shropshire Light Infantry the county had made a massive contribution in the war."
