During November 2018 in the lead up to the 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day on 11th November, Christ Church had a number of displays and a service to commemorate those lost in the war and to remember all those who took part and the sacrifices made by so many.  From the 3rd November the spire was lit up to remember those men listed on the war memorial in the church and on the 10th it was lit in blood red to remember all those who died in the war, including military and civilians.

Here are our photographs.  What they do not capture was the atmosphere it created.

Mandy's great grandfather Albert Edward Glass was one of those named as being remembered on the 4th November.  We visited the church a few times to see the lighting and to remember Albert especially.  His home stands opposite the church and it was moving to stand by his front door and look at the church as it remembered him.  Albert was in the 5th Wiltshire Regiment and died of wounds in Mesopotamia in February 1917.  He left a widow and 5-year old daughter.

On the 10th November the church was bathed in red light and the church bells rang and it made the hairs on the back of the neck stand up.  It felt very personal to Mandy to be so close to Albert's home and the church and to know he was being remembered by others too.  We also remembered Albert's two brothers Arthur Glass (d. 1914 in France) and Hebern Glass (d. 1917 in Greece) and thought about the sadness the family endured.  We also remembered and were grateful for the safe return of Duncan's grandfather Samuel Percival Ball from serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, but saddened that his brother George Glendower Ball died a prisoner of war in a Bavarian hospital on his 30th birthday (March 1918).

As the lights shone and the church bells sounded across Swindon it was hard to leave, such were the feelings evoked.  Thank you the people of Christ Church for this rather beautiful tribute of remembrance.  Lest We Forget.