Ross couple, John and Helen Setchfield, spent the Armistice weekend in the Belgian town of Ypres (Ieper), where John’s mother, Mary, was born and brought up during the inter-war years. Her father, having served in the Great War became a gardener for the War Graves Commission, living and working in the town.

Mary and her younger sister attended St George’s Memorial School and Church. St George’s was endowed by Eton School in memory of all the Etonians who had lost their lives in the battles around the Ypres Salient. On Sundays, the family attended the church, where John’s grandmother sang in the choir.

St George’s Church is indeed a memorial; every wall is covered with brass plaques in memory of the fallen, and there are many regimental standards. One of the plaques is in memory of Violette Szabo, someone whose name often appears in the pages of this newspaper.

At the outbreak of WW2, Mary and her sister were sent to stay with relatives in the UK. Their parents followed a short time later in a dramatic exit from the town - they had to gather what few items they could carry and walk to the coast some 30 miles away, where they managed to board the very last ferry back to England.

By the end of the war the two sisters had met the men they would eventually marry and so they made their homes in the UK, but John’s grandparents returned to Ypres until the 1960s when they retired to Kent.

For this special occasion the outside of St George’s was bedecked with knitted poppies and looked spectacular. Some Setchfield poppies found their way to this display as well as to the one in our own St Mary’s. After the morning service the large congregation marched to the Menin Gate, through thronged streets, accompanied by a variety of military bands – brass, bagpipes and Sikh drummers to name but a few. Here, more ceremonies were conducted, in both English and Flemish, many poppy wreaths were laid and the Belgian and British National Anthems sung.

Although sorry to miss the Armistice service in Ross, which they attend every year, John and Helen felt that in this very special year it was appropriate to have a family presence in the church and town which has played such an important part in John’s family history.