A video message for Remembrancetide

The Revd Canon Andy Bryant, Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care, shares a video message for Remembrancetide as we remember all who have lost their lives in battle.

“During the First World War both towns and countryside were bombed, blasted and repeatedly fought over and turned into muddy, barren landscapes where little or nothing grew except the bright red Flanders poppy.

The poppy has become the symbol of our remembrance as we recall the fallen and injured of the two world wars and the too many conflicts that have happened since.

Amidst the carnage of the battlefield, the poppy alone seemed to survive. Its flowering a symbol of hope amidst the slaughter. The blood red echoing the sacrifice of lives.

It is above all the fragility of the poppy that makes it such as poignant symbol of peace, for peace itself is such a fragile thing.”

Watch the full message above.