Dear Friends of Noordhoek Farm Village,
It is the custom to hold a ceremony on 11 November each year to honour those who have fallen in past conflicts. This year Noordhoek Farm Village is holding a small simple ceremony to mark the occasion on a particularly memorable date. This is a date we won’t observe again in our life time: 11- 11 – 11.
Please join us at 11 o’clock for a simple Remembrance Day Ceremony on 11 November 2011
Remembrance Day 11-11-11
Order of events:
10:45 Arrival and gathering …. near bandstand/ tree
11:00 Ralph McArthur from Cape Town Highlanders will play “The Flowers of the Forest” on his bagpipes
11.05 Reading of “Flanders Fields” (written by John McCrae)
11:07 Unveiling of the Tree of Remembrance plaque
11.11 Minute of silence at 11 minutes past 11, the 11th hour of the 11th month of the 11th year
11.12 Free Tea and coffee
Members of the armed forces are invited to wear their uniforms and medals and bring memorabilia.
Background to Remembrance Day:
11 November is well known as Remembrance Day (also called Poppy day, Armistice Day or Veterans Day) and is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth Countries to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty since World War I. Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War 1 on that date in 1918. Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.
The Red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem “In Flanders Fields”. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in WWI, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.
In military tradition, “The Flowers of the Forest” is usually played at the end of a memorial service or burial. Several versions of words have been added to this ancient Scottish tune, notably Jean Elliot’s lyrics in 1756. Others include those by Alison Cockburn. However, many renditions are played on the Great Highland Bagpipe.
This is an open invitation to all members of the armed forces and their friends and family.
Regards
The Management and Staff of Noordhoek Farm Village
Noordhoek Farm Village:
Info office tel: 021 789 2812
Email: info@noordhoekvillage.co.za
In Flanders Fields (written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae on 3 May, 1915 during the 2nd battle of Ypres, Belgium)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
