Remembrance
The Royal British Legion is recognised as the national custodian
of Remembrance.
Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day
traditionally put aside to remember all those who have given their
lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today.
Sunday 14 November 2010
On the 14 November 2010 there will be a Remembrance
Service held at St James' Church followed by a parade and march of
Branch Members from the Church Institute to the War Memorial.
A short service and a 2 minutes silence will then conclude
the activities. Times will be notified nearer the day.
Thursday 11 November 2010
At 11 o'clock on the 11 November 2010 there will be the
usual short Remembrance Day Service and 2 minutes silence held at
the Village War Memorial.
The Bratton Village War Memorial
The Bratton village War Memorial
was donated by the owners of Bratton House, Mr & Mrs Diggle,
and erected shortly after the end of WWI. It is believed that their
son, who had served in the Great War, had returned safely and they
donated the memorial as a 'thanksgiving' as can be seen in this
photograph.
The Memorial had engraved on it
the names of the 20 villagers who had died in that war by the time
of its erection.
In 2002 the Bratton Branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL)
arranged with the Parish Council for the Memorial to be cleaned by
a local monumental mason.
Whilst checking the names on the memorial, the Branch Secretary,
Dick Bird, noticed that the commemorative panel in
Bratton's St James' church included two names not recorded on the
memorial, but were buried in the churchyard. Dick immediately set
about investigating the discrepancy by checking with the Wiltshire
record office and the War Graves Commission who confirmed that the
2 villagers: Charles Gatly and Albert Merrett were indeed recorded
amongst the dead from the First World War having succumbed some
years after the war to the effects of wounds or injuries sustained
during the war. History doesn't tell us what the men died of but it
could have been as a result of the effects of poison gas because
there were many instances of this recorded at the time.
It was clear to the members of the Legion in Bratton that the
names of Charles Gatley and Albert Merrett should be on the
memorial and arrangements were made to have the stone engraved
during the summer of 2004 as shown in this photograph.
The Parish Council supported this project wholeheartedly and
paid for the work to be done. But why were the names missing in the
first place? The explanation is simple. When the Memorial was
erected both men were still alive and so their names were not
included in the roll of honour. The commemorative headstones in St
James' church were erected later by which time both men had died.
So thanks to the eagle eye of the RBL Bratton Branch Secretary,
both villagers' names now appear in their rightful place alongside
their comrades from Bratton who gave their lives in the First World
War.
As part of the exercise, it was also noted that here were no
memorials in St James' or the Bratton Baptist churches recording
the death of three men from Bratton who lost their lives in the
Second World War. Both churches supported the erection of
appropriate tablets, one in each church, and the first dedication
service was held in the Bratton Baptist Church on the
31st October 2004. Two of the three villagers, Harry
Robert Hallett ans Vincent Longmead Hyatt are buried in St James'
churchyard.
The third villager, Reginald Watts died in the Far East as a
Japanese prisoner of war and is buried in the War Graves
Commission Cemetery at Chungkai, Thailand.
Recently 2 Branch members, John Drewett and Tim Goode,
have renovated the surrounding area of the memorial and replaced
the marble chippings to improve its appearance and particularly in
readiness for the annual Remembrance services in
November
