Four years ago we began a period of Remembrance which would take in the centenaries of significant military actions and milestones of the First World War. Since then we have marked the anniversaries of great battles, Gallipoli, the Somme, Jutland, Passchendaele, and remembered the loss and the sacrifice, the heroism and the tragedy of these events with pride and regret and a thoughtful resolve. 

Now in November 2018 we mark the centenary of the Armistice in 1918 . It is a fitting coincidence that Remembrance Sunday this year falls on the 11th November itself (in 1918 the Armistice was signed on Monday 11th November at Compiégne, in France, and hostilities ceased at 11am).

Every community has its own stories of young men who marched away and never returned. To mark this we will have two silhouettes in the church from the Charity There but Not There www.therebutnotthere.com. Christ Church itself  has two pews with the enigmatic words MEN ONLY painted on them - probably a relic of WW1, as returning ex-combatants struggled to find their place back in ordinary life.  Communities like our own in the East End were far closer to the events of war than they had ever been before. In 1917 Upper North Street School was hit by aerial bombing and 18 children died. If the wind was in the right direction it was possible to hear the rumble of heavy artillery on Hampstead Heath. In 2018 we mark the impact that modern warfare had on the whole community by a range of events. The Parish of the Isle of Dogs is teaming up with the Friends of Island History Trust to run an Open Day at Christ Church on Thursday 8th November between 11 and 3pm. Bring along your questions about your families in wartime. The electronic archive will be available for you to consult. Bring with you any family artefacts of WW1 and be prepared to talk about them. In the evening Fr. Tom will lead a symposium on War Memorials and the Communities of the Isle of Dogs. This will include a torchlight inspection of the Christ Church War Memorial.

On Friday 9th November at 10.45am there will be a service for schools at Christ Church called 'We Want Peace!'

On Sunday 11th there will be two Remembrancetide services. The Parish Mass will begin with a wreath-laying outside at the Christ Church War Memorial at 10.45am. In the evening the London Gallery Quire and its conductor Francis Roads will lead Evensong in a musical style that was already beginning to be forgotten in 1918 when the troops came home. It's very English and pastoral, the epitome of 'home' that the soldiers, sailors and airmen dreamed of in the front line. It is appropriate for the close of Remembrance Sunday that the emphasis of this service should be on peace and how we can build it.