A short act of Remembrance will take place at the Kent & East Sussex Railway’s Bodiam station on Thursday 11 November. The station will be open to those who wish to participate from 10.30am and the ceremony will commence just before 11.00am when the two-minute silence will be observed.
The ceremony will be led by Rev Canon Christopher Irvine, Priest-in-Charge of the Parishes of Bodiam and Ewhurst.
The backdrop will be the Cavell Van which carried the remains of three national heroes on their return from Dover to London over 100 years ago. Railwaymen named the vehicle after Nurse Edith Cavell who was shot by the German army for helping escaped British prisoners during World War I. Her body was returned in this van as part of the final journey to her resting place at Norwich Cathedral.
Captain Charles Fryatt was a channel ferry captain falsely accused of trying to sink a submarine and also executed. Many people turned out to see the train and line the streets when these two civilians returned.
Finally, the body of an ‘Unknown Warrior’ was conveyed in the vehicle, his sacrifice representing the many soldiers who had not returned from the ‘Great War’. The Unknown Warrior’s return in 1920 was a huge event attended by the Royal family and the government. One million people visited his grave in Westminster Abbey during the following week.
All are welcome to join in this act of Remembrance and the Cavell Van will be open for viewing following the ceremony.
Some parking will be available adjacent to Bodiam station with further facilities at the National Trust’s Bodiam Castle a short walk away.
