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Extract from East Anglian Daily Times of Friday 26 October 2001 The last time the Memorial Cross looked so clean and white was at its unveiling on November 28, 1921. The East Anglian Daily Times reported that the vicar, the Rev J Michael Jones, supported by a surpliced choir, first conducted a service for the large crowd which included many from outside as well as in Bentley. Next Colonel C Carnegy, of Stutton, believed to be the vicar's nephew, gave brief and "appropriate address" and then removed the Union Jack covering the base of the Cross to reveal the names of the 16 fallen. The Last Post was sounded and finally relatives of the fallen placed their wreaths around the foot of the cross. Mary Laflin, then a pupil at Bentley School, remembers that the large crowd gathered safely and without interruption in Capel and Church Roads as so few motors cars and horses then passed. The Cross stood originally between two well-established horse chestnuts of which one remains today. The Cross was designed by H Munro Cautley, architect, writer and the greatest connoisseur of East Anglian churches. EE Saunders of Ipswich erected the Cross. | |||
Extract from East Anglian Daily Times of Friday 23 November 2001 After a lapse of several years, a Remembrance service was held at the war memorial. Fifty residents, some too young to have wartime memories, stood in a circle around the memorial to observe two minutes' silence and hear Keith Phillips, chairman of the parish council, read a verse from Binyon's "For the Fallen" as well as the names of the 23 who gave their lives. Afterwards he laid a wreath. Sandra Mehen, licensed reader, said prayers. The memorial's renovation was completed in October when S A Prior created a circular area, studded with pebbles and edged by bricks, around its base. | |||
Visit the Bentley Roll of Honour Pages (External website)
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Update November 2009 | ||
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The Remembrance Service on Sunday 8 November 2009 was conducted by Sandra Mehen and attended by over 100 parishioners and friends. The exhortation was read out together with the names of the fallen of Bentley by Michael Anderton. This year Ray Savage operated an amplified sound system that allowed all to hear the proceedings above the noise of the traffic and for the Last Post and Reveille to be played at the appropriate points. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Parish Council by Roger Goodwin, Bentley Comrades by Peggy Kite and the Royal British Legion by John Wheals. At this year’s service we were reminded of all the conflicts from 1945 up until the present operations in Afghanistan. | ||
On Wednesday 11 November 2009 the children and teachers of Bentley CofE VCP School gathered at the War Memorial, supported by the Standard of the East Bergholt Branch Royal British Legion together with Bentley parishioners. The service was conducted by Rev Jowett with the children reading out the names of the fallen of Bentley, the exhortation and other appropriate readings and prayers. After the Last Post, 2 minutes silence and Reveille, the children placed their crosses on the plinth of the War Memorial.
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