CHAIRMAN ALBERT COOPER
VICE CHAIRMAN WILLIAM WHITE
SECRETARY - DAVID HOSKISON
TREASURER - MAURICE ELLIOTT
POPPY APPEAL ORGANISER - SPENCER LEADER
WELFARE SECRETARY - VACANT
MEMBERSHIP SEC. - Mrs A.J. HARPER
STANDARD BEARER - MICHAEL BURNS
WOMEN'S SECTION
CHAIRPERSON MRS GINA DAY
SECRETARY MRS ENID BURNS
STANDARD BEARER MISS RHIAN DAY
“They gave me some tin soldiers Sir, when I were just a lad,
And one by one, as they got broke, they told me I were bad.
Those little metal soldiers Sir, when I were just a boy,
They meant the world to me Sir, by far my favourite toy.
They gave me lads as soldiers Sir, and told me just the same
Aught happened to those soldiers Sir, I’d be ‘t one to blame.
My little band of soldiers Sir, had never fired a gun.
How do the politicians Sir, get men to think war’s fun?
My soldiers didn’t have much luck, though they were brave and true
They marched ahead towards them guns as they were ordered to.
Believe me Sir, it weren’t my fault, we didn’t stand a chance,
We had our orders loud and clear “Against all odds – advance!”
I couldn’t’ve tried harder Sir, I couldn’t’ve done more -
This ain’t no genteel playroom, Sir, it’s bloody, brutal war.
I couldn’t have saved them lives Sir, I’m not the one to blame
Blame the men in government who think that war’s a game.
I didn’t start this war Sir, it’s wasn’t my idea.
In fact, it’s not that long ago that we were in t’Crimea.
An’ it was only yesterday we went to fight the Boer
Looking at our history Sir, there’s always been a war.
But ‘tis all t’same to t’powers that be – without a backward glance,
They sent a generation Sir, to certain death in France.
So it don’t make no difference Sir, they’ll shoot me just the same
It makes folk feel much better Sir, when there’s someone to blame.”
©Lucy London, November 2005
Private James Yule, Northumberland Fusiliers (23rd Tyneside Scottish Bn.) killed on 9th April 1917, remembered on the Arras Memorial, France
Trooper Kenneth Yule Jackson, 4th Royal Tank Regiment R.A.C., killed in the Tobruk Corridor, Libya on 26th November 1941 and remembered on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt
Major Lewis Jackson of the Royal Field Artillery, who served in World War I and World War II and who died tragically on 30th September 1948.
Lucy London
We gave our today
'WE WILL REMEMBER THEM'