Poppies to Paddington – Honeybourne remembers

This morning at 7:57am, our Chairman, Cllr Heath Jobes, presented Honeybourne’s Remembrance wreath at Honeybourne Station on behalf of the village. Thank you to all the residents who came along to pay their respects.

Our wreath travelled by train to London Paddington, joining hundreds more from communities across the Great Western Railway network. They were laid at the War Memorial on Platform 1, where a two-minute silence was observed.

This is the seventh year of GWR’s Poppies to Paddington. This year it marks 110 years since the Battle of the Somme. It also recognises the thousands of soldiers from the British Indian Army whose sacrifice went unrecorded for generations. The names of 9,909 servicemen have only recently been added to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s records.

GWR’s Managing Director, Mark Hopwood CBE, said “Remembrance must reflect everyone who served and sacrificed their lives.”

Serving Gurkha and Sikh soldiers formed a guard of honour for a special Remembrance train, which carried the names of 2,545 former GWR workers who lost their lives in the First World War.

We will remember them.

Photos: Honeybourne Parish Council. Train and Paddington photos: GWR.