ANZAC DAY & THE ABBEY

Many of you will know that Aisha & William have participated in Canberra ANZAC Day parades for the last few years as placard bearers. 

AISHA & MICHELLE IN CANBERRA.

LEADING THEIR MEN.

WILLIAM AND JAMES LEADING THEIR MEN.

The parade passes in front of the PM, opposition leaders, Ambassadors and military big wigs and is televised nationally. Aisha in particular had become a regular bearer for the HMAS Sydney supply veterans. This is always at 10 am which has meant we've never been to a dawn service, so decided to make London our first.

GOING PAST THE PM IN CANBERRA.

So, the day after getting back from Glastonbury we were all out the door by 4:20 am and down at the Australian & New Zealand War memorials next to Wellington Arch by 4:45. Again the weather gods looked kindly upon us all and although it was cool it wasn't too cold and, most importantly, it was dry. 

The Australian memorial is beautiful with names of battle sites and all the Australian towns who lost members of their communities to war.  Like all the Commonwealth War Graves / Memorials we have seen in Damascus, Tehran, Jakarta and of course Gallipoli, it is immaculately kept. The service was moving, as all ANZAC services are, but also odd. There was a Grenadier guard in his Busby hat who played the last post as red double decker London buses drove past. It only re-emphaised that we were somehow slightly out of place being in 'The Mother Country' as England would have been thought of back in 1915.

THE AUSTRALIAN MEMORIAL IN LONDON.

We then caught a black taxi up to the hotel where the gunfire breakfast was held from 6 am but had to leave by 7am to get down to the Abbey for the readers' rehearsal. This was for Aisha who was chosen along with several other children of Australian and New Zealand families to read prayers during the service. Aisha was very excited to have been taken out through the shrine of Edward the Confessor to approach the altar from behind and came back hopping around to tell us she had also seen tombs of some of the King Henrys! It was during this rehearsal we were able to take the photos below. 

AISHA IN THE ROYAL BOX.

 The rehearsal finished in just enough time to allow us to race up to the Cenotaph to attend the wreath laying and march there (testament to the strength of the Australian-British relationship, Whitehall is closed for half an hour for Australians and Big Ben chimes 8am after the last post – amazing) !

THE CENOTAPH

That finished in time to then get back to the Abbey, meet Mark’s Aunty Mary at 8:30 and head into the Abbey for the service there. The service was just beautiful and Aisha and all the children did a great job. The Westminster choir sang as did a choir from Perth Modern School, and a small Maori choir, 6 State trumpeter soldiers in buzbees doing fanfare up on the organ platform which sent chills down our spines. Sally sat where 4 days later we saw the Duchess of Cornwall sitting while Mark & William sat where Princess Ann and her husband would sit and Aunty Mary where Princess Eugenie would sit!  At the end of the ANZAC service we all walked down the main aisle of the Abbey, past all the hoi poloi and ended up out on the forecourt being photographed by thronging tourists gearing up for a royal wedding and thinking we were VIPs. 

We were very happy that Mark’s Aunt Mary was able to join us to for the service and later come back to our house for the first time.

AUNTY MARY WITH US OUTSIDE THE ABBEY

By the time we made it home it was noon. At each event we had heard the last post, sung Advance Australia Fair, God save the Queen and God protect New Zealand while all up we had almost 10 minutes of silence.  


A wonderful day!