Here Be Dragons

| November 8, 2019

Unsure of our bearings we rode… Observing the horizon I watch familiar church towers on the horizon drift back and forth in perspective. Distant…closer…always to our right or soon to be on our right. The roads meander here amongst the fields of battle and bounty. At times and without warning (no orange pylons here) the […]

51st (Highland) Division Memorial (1924)

| September 3, 2018

Friends are good on the day of battle Located near to Y Ravine, within the present day Newfoundland Park, the 51st Division Memorial commemorates their success during the Battle of the Ancre 13 November 1916. The memorial project was aided by the good work of  Lieutenant Colonel Nangle, the former Roman Catholic padre of the […]

Beside a Prince and a Private

| August 13, 2018

Thread Nine The considerable work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission [CWGC] is evident across the globe. I have visited their work at many sites in Canada and North West Europe, Malta, and Turkey. Headstones and memorials require continual maintenance and often I have been delighted to see their work in progress as gardeners and […]

Vimy Ridge – Expression in Stone

| April 8, 2017

How many eyes have seen these names… and whispered voices read them softly? (P. Ferguson, © September 1999) ————————-o————————- Part One The Battle for Vimy Ridge Vimy Ridge, a northern French landscape helped establish Canada’s identity as a nation unto itself. Heavily fortified along a seven kilometer front the Ridge, occupied by German forces, held a […]

Winged Symbols and the Great War

| September 5, 2016

The Angels Among Us Need No Introduction The great, tragic loss of life during the Great War was unprecedented, never had the world experienced such an unleashing of carnage that took with it a generation of endless possibilities. After the armistice finding ways to cope with these extraordinary losses took on many forms and symbols […]