On Sunday 4th November 2018 Cubs and Leaders from our Spinners and Nailers Cub Packs visited the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. This is the UK’s year round centre of remembrance and home to the iconic Armed Forces Memorial which was dedicated in the presence of the Queen. The Arboretum, set on a 150 acre site features over 350 memorials.
The visit started with a classroom input where the Cubs learnt a little history of World War 1 and the importance of the Poppy, they even had a go at making a poppy and recited the famous “In Flanders Field Poem” by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
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.
Afterwards the Cubs visited several of the Memorials, including the Scout Memorial where they were treated to a chance talk by one of the Leaders instrumental in its building. The Cubs also designed and planted flags which were planted, each flag bore the name of a soldier whose names appears on the Memorial Gardens in Belper.
