A Trip to London - November 2011

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For the last year or so Jill and I have been visiting places we always said we would visit one day, but have never quite got round to it.  On Tuesday 15th November we decided on Westminster Abbey.  Although I had worked in London since I was a lad I had only been there once many years ago and Jill had not at all.

Emerging from Westminster tube station at about 10.45 am we walked into Parliament Square and looked up Whitehall.  Now heaving with London traffic, the view north was far removed from two days before when the whole road had been filled with bands and hundreds of marching veterans carrying wreaths to lay at The Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.  Having watched the ceremony on television, we decided to have a look.

 

We crossed to the centre of the road and were able to examine at first hand the many wreaths on all sides of the memorial, including those laid by HM The Queen, other members of the Royal Family, senior politicians, representatives of Commonwealth Countries, Armed Services and numerous other organisations.

The majority, too many to count, were on the south side and below is just a section of them. Although we had seen them laid on television on Sunday, we really did not quite appreciate how many there were.

The Cenotaph 15th November 2011

A few of the hundreds of wreaths

Quite moved by the experience we then backtracked down Whitehall and unexpectantly crossed the path of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who was walking into Cannon Row, the Old Scotland Yard. The last time I went in there was as a very young constable nearly 50 years ago.  To me it always was the real Scotland Yard, not the anonymous tower block we have today. 

  
We then walked round Parliament Square and entered the grounds of the Abbey at the side of St. Margaret’s Church and were suddenly confronted with another unexpected site.
 

And many more

In its own way the sight quite overshadowed the spectacle of The Cenotaph.

Thousdans od Commemorative crosses

All over the gardens were thousands of small British Legion crosses.  They were in neatly laid out sections, each representing a regiment/service organisation and they all seemed filled to capacity. The majority  were dedicated to individual people, but in the case of some regiments, little printed notices represented hundreds of servicemen killed in action.  

 

 

We then continued on to the main object of our trip; the visit to Westminster Abbey.  Not enough space to describe everything we saw.  Suffice to say it lived up to our every expectation.   A free audio guide took us round all the different aspects at quite a leisurely hour and a half pace and the entrance fee of £13 each (OAP rate), was well worth the money, especially considering the cost of the upkeep of the building. 

As we left we passed the grave of The Unknown Soldier, equally covered with wreaths and poppies.  A fitting end to a thought provoking visit.

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