From the fields of Flanders to Southampton..

Next week on the 8th October 2014, our very own Queen Mary 2 arrives in Southampton with the last sandbag containing soil from the First World War cemeteries in Belgium  to create a Flanders Field Memorial Garden in London.  It will be placed, with the other 69 bags at the Guards Museum in London.

It will be taken from the Ypres Cemetery and presented to Captain Kevin Oprey, Master of Queen Mary 2, in Zeebrugge on 5th October, where it will be displayed for all the ships 2,600 passengers to see.

This event is especially poignant, as the idea was thought of a few years ago to build a special Memorial Garden containing soil brought back from every battlefield in Flanders, where soldiers of the seven regiments of the Household Division died in World War 1. The bags were collected by British & Belgian school children last summer, with over 1000 children from 140 schools taking part. This has been a unique project in that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission had previously never allowed soil to leave the battlefield cemeteries.

When Queen Mary 2 arrives in Southampton she will be saluted by fireboats and greeted by a crowd of Soldiers, Military vehicles, and the Mayor of Southampton.  This final sandbag will then be taken through the city to the Civic Hall for the public to take a final look before it is then taken to London for a permanent place in the Guards Museum, where the Queen will officially open the Memorial Garden in November.

This occasion is an historic event, and if you can make it to Southampton to witness  it,  I’m sure you’ll be touched and moved to remember the sacrifices that were made by these brave soldiers, on our behalf in the Great War.