Poignant poppy tribute to fallen

Seventy years after the outbreak of World War II and almost a century after the outbreak of World War I residents of the Fountain area gathered to commemorate the 99 local men who died in both conflicts.

It is thought that up to 5,000 men, from a population of 40,000, left Londonderry to serve in the Great War. Of those who left, 1,000 were killed. This represented 2.5 per cent of the City's population. In that era there were 10 streets in the Fountain area, so the death of almost 100 men from the area had a devastating effect.

To that end, a gathering of people gathered last Wednesday at 4pm to plant 99 small crosses on a communal garden in the area. Each cross, carried a poppy and bore the name of each man from the area who perished in conflict.

The group assembled at the Cathedral Youth Club before moving to the recently created communal garden right in the heart of the estate. The ceremony took place at the site of a recently completed sculpture, The Apprentice Angel. Local man, Jim Arbuckle, gave a rendition of 'For The Fallen', written by poet Laurence Binyon in 1914. The work is best known for its fourth verse: "They shall not grow old as we that are left are old. Age shall not wither them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."

At this point the Last Post was sounded and two minutes silence observed. After this, some infants from the area were chosen to step forward and begin placing the wooden crosses in the ground. The remainder of the people then followed suit until all the crosses were laid.

Organiser of the event, Jeanette Warke, of the Cathedral Youth Club, told the Sentinel: "This was done as part of six months research spent researching all the soldiers from the small streets of the Fountain. We were amazed to find that 99 men from the ten terraced streets in the area had died."

Jeanette recalled the story that her own grandfather had been killed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme - July 1, 1916.

"She had six children to raise on her own after that and a similar thing happened to her neighbour just a couple of doors away. Next year we hope to organise a cross community trip to The Somme, taking kids from the Fountain and the Bogside together," said Jeanette.

The continuity of a service tradition from the Fountain was symbolised by the laying of a poppy wreath by a young man from the area, David McClements. David's uncle Gordon Pritchard, of the Royal Scots Dragoon's was the 100th soldier to be killed in the most recent Iraqi conflict. And, his brother Dean, is currently on a tour of Afghanistan with the Irish Guards.

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Seventy years after the outbreak of World War II and almost a century after the outbreak of World War I residents of the Fountain area gathered to commemorate the 99 local men who died in both conflicts.

It is thought that up to 5,000 men, from a population of 40,000, left Londonderry to serve in the Great War. Of those who left, 1,000 were killed. This represented 2.5 per cent of the City's population. In that era there were 10 streets in the Fountain area, so the death of almost 100 men from the area had a devastating effect.

To that end, a gathering of people gathered last Wednesday at 4pm to plant 99 small crosses on a communal garden in the area. Each cross, carried a poppy and bore the name of each man from the area who perished in conflict.

The group assembled at the Cathedral Youth Club before moving to the recently created communal garden right in the heart of the estate. The ceremony took place at the site of a recently completed sculpture, The Apprentice Angel. Local man, Jim Arbuckle, gave a rendition of 'For The Fallen', written by poet Laurence Binyon in 1914. The work is best known for its fourth verse: "They shall not grow old as we that are left are old. Age shall not wither them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."

At this point the Last Post was sounded and two minutes silence observed. After this, some infants from the area were chosen to step forward and begin placing the wooden crosses in the ground. The remainder of the people then followed suit until all the crosses were laid.

Organiser of the event, Jeanette Warke, of the Cathedral Youth Club, told the Sentinel: "This was done as part of six months research spent researching all the soldiers from the small streets of the Fountain. We were amazed to find that 99 men from the ten terraced streets in the area had died."

Jeanette recalled the story that her own grandfather had been killed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme - July 1, 1916.

"She had six children to raise on her own after that and a similar thing happened to her neighbour just a couple of doors away. Next year we hope to organise a cross community trip to The Somme, taking kids from the Fountain and the Bogside together," said Jeanette.

The continuity of a service tradition from the Fountain was symbolised by the laying of a poppy wreath by a young man from the area, David McClements. David's uncle Gordon Pritchard, of the Royal Scots Dragoon's was the 100th soldier to be killed in the most recent Iraqi conflict. And, his brother Dean, is currently on a tour of Afghanistan with the Irish Guards.