April Jonquil – daughter of an Arm Gal – wrote an article in GaianTimes Magazine#6 (November 2012) ..as a featured piece to mark the Remembrance Day (11th November). In the article, April made many observations with regard to how her late mother had worked in the Land Army (UK) and then subsequently held that with a personal honor and regard.
<Mum was in the RAF and ‘our Vera,’ as mum would say, was the lady who sang of romance and hope that helped keep up the morel of the soldiers. She would visit our soldiers abroad and sing songs of love and peace to bring our boys home. ‘And the Nightingales sang in Barkley Square…’ -Mum would often step into a moment of nostalgia and break into song.
Then l spotted an old tambourine that reminded me of The Salvation Army who would march down our street and wake us up on a Sunday morning, They were always led by a lady playing a tambourine, followed by the trumpet players and the drummers, all out of sync. By the time the elders had taken a deep enough breath to blow their trumpet they had gone out of tune. It was a right old racket but we loved them all the same. Well, a least mum did! And she so loved military brass bands and she had this thing of wanting to suck a lemon in front of one. They can’t get you for thinking,’ she would say. l guess it was the rebel in her. Or maybe she just wanted them to sound home from home.
As I passed by my local supermarket on the way home l saw The British Legion out in force! Their poppies at the ready, made by volunteers who believe in the cause they stand for. The colour red spreading out across the nation, reminding us of what our battles and personal battles are all for. Our coins and hopefully notes are slipping inside those containers. The coins give off their own sound, while notes stay silent. We wait and watch to make sure the volunteers see it go in the box as we want nothing in return but that extra special smile! The smile that say thank you it is all worth standing, freezing my butt off hour after hour.
Children are encouraged to take money into school to buy a poppy, as the word ‘donate’ seems to be fading. I remember one of the children l used to work with coming home from school with a flower she had bought from a charitable organisation. She couldn’t remember the charity for which it was for as that wasn’t important, just the fact that she had a flower the same as everyone else in the school. Her brother complained as to why she hadn’t bought him one too. ‘But l only had a pound,’ she said…>
We open up the GT archives, so you can re-read the FULL FEATURE.
Here is the Link http://www.gaiantimes.co.uk/html/poppy_thoughts.html (this will expire in 1 month)
-Mani Navasothy
Chief Editor: Gaian Times Magazine
QuantumPhoenix 