A Day Out and an update

Hello All,

Accompanied by my son, we set off  by coach for National Memorial Arboretumn. We spent a wonderful day in hot sunshine walking around all the beautiful memorials there, we have 3 generations of family members 'doing their bit' for Queen and Country during both World Wars and in Afghanistan, so it was lovely to go and pay our respects in a small way to all those who did not come back from conflicts far & wide. I took photos of memorials that mean something to us in some way or another and DS has a keen interest in the Historical side of things was able to see the memorials for Regiments and Battles that he has researched. To give you a taste here are some pictures. The site is very beautiful and peaceful, built on reclaimed Gravel Pits where 2 rivers meet- the R.Tame & the R.Trent. 

 all along the rivers there were clouds of Damsel Flies, this one stayed still just long enough!

Everywhere we went there were poppies growing.

 My Maternal Grandfather served in WW1 with the Gloucestershire Regiment, and my Father joined the Glosters after the war. My Father in Law served with the Wiltshire Regiment which is also on this Memorial stone as they have been amalgamated in recent history, he was killed in Italy in 1942, and is buried at Minterno Cemetery in Italy. 

My Father and Uncle (Dad's brother) were both with the Devon & Cornwall Regiment, and Dad was put into the Royal Artillery serving on the North Atlantic Convoys as part of the Maritime Regiment. I also had an Uncle who was in the Merchant Navy (also on the North Atlantic routes.)

 

Bofors Gun - typical of the type of gun my father would have been using, the small metal 'box' to the right is where the gunner would have sat - it was no more than 4 feet high and five feet long. It must have been hell on earth!

 We visited the Royal Artillery Garden of Remembrance which was a lovely peaceful place.

and I particularly wanted to visit the Memorial entitled 'Shot at Dawn' which I found very moving, each post represents one soldier accused of cowardice. Each post has a little plaque with a name, age rank and serial number, some of them were mere boys at just 17 years old.

 The main Memorial is still being added to, it is dedicated to those who have lost their lives since WW2, the stone mason was there adding the names for this last year (17)

one of the walls - covered in names

The slot in this wall has been designed so that on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11am the sun will shine through and hit the centre of a large bronze wreath which can seen where the chap is working in the first picture.

Another Memorial that caught my attention was this one, not because I had any real connection to it but for the sheer Beauty.

Memorial for 'Signals, Intelligence & Communication Security' - the patterns in the stone were stunning and reminded me of the Planet  Mars

I mentioned an update in the title of this post and this is it... on Saturday during a days sewing with some of the girls from Severn Valley I did a little work on my 'Kimono' cushion, I managed to get 2 more borders on although it took me nearly all morning to decide on which colours to use, I think I finally got it right and have decided to leave it there and complete the cushion once I have done some quilting. The 'Kimono' is not sewn on yet as we were advised not to add it till the very last.

I have done a little bit of embroidery on the needle-case project for my swap partner but I cannot show you yet or it may spoil the surprise for her if she happens to pop by, and on the knitting front I have completed 2 more sets of squares in the Rowan Knit Along I am taking part in..

Well that's about it for now, I'm off to Knitter Knatter tonight, I haven't been to the evening group since January what with one thing and another, so it'll be nice to catch up with the girls.
I'll be back again soon
Lx