The Sellack Armistice Centenary event on Saturday, September 22nd was a memorable and highly enjoyable afternoon for the local community who organised and supported the event. It brought together generations, from age two to age 90, to pay tribute to the impact of World War I on the local area, and to remember the sacrifice of the 16 men from Sellack who did not return home.

Sellack Village Hall was decorated with a fascinating and moving display of WW1 articles and memorabilia, including personal items loaned by members of the community.

After a few opening words from Mark Whittal, Chair of Sellack Parish Council, a packed village hall was taken back in time by an arrangement of WWI songs, poems and readings directed by Emma Dawson. The Sellack Singers performed ‘Keep the home fires burning’ and other songs, and the tribute finished with the whole hall singing ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’. The readings by members of the community included ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and other WW1 poems as well as excerpts from Michael Morpurgo’s ‘War Horse’ and ‘Private Peaceful’.

The central purpose of the afternoon was the re-dedication of the Sellack War Memorial, made possible by a complex road closure organised by Sellack Parish Council to enable the ceremony to take place at the normally busy Picts Cross crossroads, where the war memorial was sited at the heart of the parish in an era when traffic was much lighter.

Two Royal British Legion standard bearers led the parade from the village hall to the war memorial where a large crowd gathered for the ceremony, undeterred by the rain. After prayers of rededication led by Rev Crispin Pemberton, 16 local children laid down a named small cross each as the names of the 16 men on the war memorial were read out.

The Exhortation and sounding of the Last Post were followed by a minute’s silence ending with the Reveille. The ceremony concluded with the laying of wreaths by representatives of Sellack Parish Council, Sellack Village Hall Committee and St Tysilio’s Church, after which the Royal British Legion standard bearers led the parade and crowd back to the village hall.

The afternoon was rounded off back in the village hall with refreshments provided by the Sellack Village Hall Committee who served a delicious selection of cakes and hot drinks. A member of the committee said: “Brilliant turn out. Just enough cake. Thank you to everyone who helped”.

The memorable afternoon has been captured in a set of photographs taken by Eugene McLaughlin which will be loaded on to the Sellack Parish Council website to provide a permanent record of the community’s commitment to remembering the sacrifice of the men named on the Sellack War Memorial.

The organisers of the event would like to say a big thank you to the many members of the Sellack community who took part and who came to support the event. A particular thank you to the Ross-on-Wye Branch of the Royal British Legion who lent a guiding hand and their practical support was pivotal to the success of the event which will long be remembered by those who were there.