Depending on when you read this blog, there will either be or have been a two-minute silence and a wreath laying service at Leeds cenotaph on Sunday 11th November at 11.00 am. I visited last year and found it moving and meaningful. The reason of course being Remembrance Day.
Remembrance Day is a memorial day which has been observed since the end of World War I to remember the members of the armed forces who sadly died in duty. It falls on the 11th November, which is the date that WWI ended.
A good place to visit is the Royal Armouries to see the exhibitions: A War Within and Other Ranks.
A War Within is on until the 30th of November. Photojournalist James Arthur Allen is the man behind this photographic exhibition regarding Mental Health and the Armed forces, which highlights issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Other Ranks is on until March 2013 and is an exhibition at the War Museum, Royal Armouries and is a sound-based installation by Sound artist, Amie Slavin. Amie is totally blind, and has been since 1997, I think there is a message here about overcoming adversity!
Finally I thought I would share this photograph
My Great Grandfather; William Edward Stainton, who sadly died in WWI only a month before the war ended in October 1918. He was in the Royal Engineers, and is buried in Ypres, Belgium. Although it seems sad, remembering the past can sometimes add meaning to our lives, as long as we remember to live in the present!
Hope you found this interesting,
Thanks Vicky 🙂
Leeds Wellbeing Web 
Thoughtful and reflective post, thank you for the photo of your great granddad, both my grandparents and parents were involved in the war effort and there is no doubt that the emotional effects that followed in its aftermath had significant implications for their mental health and for their families
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I love the way your photo has the angel in silhouette. The first war affected my life tremendously, such that I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t happened. My maternal grandad came from Cumberland and when he was wounded went to Beckett’s Park Hospital, (what’s now the college was a military hospital during the war). While he was there he met my gran who was in service in Headingley. It’s a weird thought. I doubt there’s anybody whose life hasn’t been changed by war, and it’s good to reflect on that. Thanks, Terry
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Thanks for your comments. Was your Grandad in Belgium? There is an amazing first world war photograph (I think it is first world war) in the Art Gallery in Leeds hung up as you walk up the stairs.. I love that photograph.. it seems like a moment in time. I bet my G.Grandad ‘William Edward’ wouldn’t have envisaged his photo up on a ‘Blog’ all these years later! He was only 27 when he died.. and my grandad was only 5 and sadly he never saw my grandad’s sister as she was born when he was away.. As I write this I am wondering what the connection to ‘Well-being’ is – but I think history can enrich our lives..
Vicky.
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Yes, I think knowing where we come from is enriching. ‘Know thyself’ still seems a good recipe for well-being. I’m not sure where my mum’s dad served. My other grandad was in Egypt I think for a while. He died after also being wounded in 1919 from the flu epidemic when my dad was a baby. That gran never remarried so my dad didn’t ever know a dad and consequently didn’t seem to really know how to do it, which affected my life a lot. It’s so complex what makes us, isn’t it?
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My father was in tanks on the North Eastern Frontier, Holland, France and Germany for two stretches of 2 years during WW2 I managed to get his war record from the War Office, he was in tanks and then the military police, he wrote very movingly about finding a dead German similar age to himself, he was 21. My mother was in the Women’s land army at 18/19, they did the work that the men away at war would normally have done, her father was in the trenches of World War 1 and was invalided out with TB, he was too proud to claim his rightful pension, thanks Vicky for helping to keep them in mind.
Su
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Antony e-mailed us from Keighley : ‘Lovely piece about Remembrance Day, Thought your readers may be interested in an hour of Remembrance Day related music I have on http://www.jam-radio.co.uk tomorrow at 9 O’ Clock. Songs about the effects of war on soldiers and civilians. An hour to reflect, perhaps. Keep up the interesting posts.’
That was Remembrance Sunday, so sadly we all missed it, but Antony says ‘It’s pre recorded and you can listen to it for up to three weeks, just look for Antony’s Attic in the podcasts. I do read all your emails and only wish I had more time to get to some of the things. Keep writing and smiling.’
Thanks Ant! Your radio station looks really cool!
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