Southend History
Schools' Remembrance Service
On Remembrance Sunday, many people usually take time to go to services to pay their respects. This year, we are all having to be apart to protect our community and keyworkers. The HMS Leigh Team wanted to play their part in bringing everyone together wherever possible to remember those who serve or have served our country.
We have a short service, under 15 minutes that was filmed at the Southend Cenotaph recently. Lead by Father David Wylie, Royal Navy, a former marine and now the county chaplain for the Royal British Legion in Essex, it includes a 2-minute silence and the Last Post. If started at 1050 the 2 minutes silence will be at 11am.
There is also an order of service available to download on this page if you would like your students to have one to follow – but as there are no hymns, it isn’t essential. Ali Ward has also created a very simple template that can be used to create their poppies for windows at home or in the classroom. There is also a film that shows all kinds of ways to make poppies with young people
For six years people in Southend gave up their town, supporting the Navy and the WRNS based on HMS Leigh able to marshal thousands of ships and millions of troops together with the fuel for tanks, shells for artillery, alongside the uniforms, food and supplies necessary to keep the Allied Forces fighting for the freedom of us all. During the dark days of World War 2, from Dunkirk and the Blitz to D-Day and the fall of Berlin HMS Leigh stood solid in the cold waters of the North Sea as the Guardian of the Thames and the sentry post of London.
We would love to ask your young people to think about them and the many children who were sent away from Southend during the 2-minute silence. There are resources on this website that give more information about Southend during WW2 and if you want more background information to be able to teach this history, please do look through the website or get in touch with one of the HMS Leigh team who would be delighted to help you.
If it is possible and there are no safeguarding issues with the images, we would love to see how your students are commemorating Remembrance in 2020. Please do send us any images that we can use to the HMS Leigh team standtall@hmsleigh.org.uk