Westminster Abbey Night Vigil
I received an email from Mr Meilyr James, proprietor of The Herbal Clinic, King Edward Road, regards to my overnight stay at Westminster Abbey
of the night of 30th June – 1st
July. It wasn’t a ticket event, as all were welcome during the night
Men in World War I uniforms in Oxford Street, Swansea, Friday 1st July 2016 |
Last November the Commonwealth War Grave Commission opened a ballot box
for those who wanted to apply for tickets to attend the Somme centenary ‘celebrations’
at Thiepval Memorial, northern France. I applied, but was not successful, as
you can imagine there were thousands of applications.
Nearer the time of the 1st July, I had a look at what other
‘celebrations’ were being carried out in the UK, locally to me in Surrey or
Swansea. It was then that I noticed that Westminster Abbey was having an
all-night vigil. I made a phone call to the Chapter Office, to see what the
score was and if anyone could attend. I was told that there was a televised
service which the queen was attending during the early evening of June 30th,
but otherwise I was more than welcome to attend the all-nighter.
This was the second time in the long history of Westminster Abbey of
having an all-night vigil. The first time was some 50 years back during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
I travelled up to Westminster Abbey and arrived there on the stroke of
23.00 o’clock, shown to the Nave, where the Unknown Warrior is buried. During
the course of the night there was a change of watch around the grave. Each
watch lasted 15 minutes, with the last watch at 07.15. During the night there
was a handful of people sat in silent mediation. By morning the Nave started to
fill up. The short service in the morning was being covered by the BBC. 07.25,
there was a bombardment fired off in Parliament Square, lasting for a 100
seconds. 07.27, the actor, Luke Thompson, read
an Account of the Battle from an officer whom was present at the time. Then
finally 07.30, a 1915 issued trench whistle was blown thus marking the
‘zero-hour’ the moment the Battle started in 1916. The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, conducted a very
short service
The vigil was held to remember those who lost their lives during the
battle, amounting to over a million lives.
During the morning of the 1st July at various train
stations around the country including Swansea and Waterloo where I was
travelling back to Surrey there were groups of actors placed in silent tableaux
depicting soldiers of 1st July. They did break into a rendition of
‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ a popular song sung in the trenches. I
understand that in Swansea, a group of ‘soldiers’ stood at and along the Dyfatty Bridge. This must have been a impressive sight to
behold. A fitting conclusion to this historical day.
Copyright – The Bay Magazine – September 2016
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