Beaumont Hamel Memorial Service Picspam
Jul. 3rd, 2006 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desoto_hia873Geez, I'm all about the picspam lately. And Toronto Trek is next week so there'll be more to come.
The memorial service went very well. The weather was great--sunny and warm, but not humid. The bright sunlight tended to bleach out the pictures a little, but it sure beat the rain they'd been forecasting earlier in the week. Everything went just the way it was supposed to and I didn't trip when laying the choir's wreath (phew). After laying the wreath, however, my skirt got caught in the chair I was temporarily parked in before scooting back to the choir to sing the national anthem and I had two people helping me try to get it unhooked. At least I wasn't on-camera when that happened.
If you were looking for me on TV and couldn't find me, it's because the service was broadcast on CBC Newsworld instead of the regular CBC channel. Which I didn't find out until after I arrived at the site, which meant that I didn't get it on videotape. However, another choir member did and her father has even put it on DVD for me. When I pick it up later this week, I'm going to upload it to YouSendIt so that my relatives in the U.S. can see it. I'll post the link here too.
My sister took pics with my camera. The main square around the National War Memorial was reserved for all the various dignitaries, including the Prime Minister and Governor General, so she couldn't get very close to anything. She didn't know that I was laying a wreath so was quite shocked when she heard my name announced.
This is the Newfoundland flag flying over the top of the Memorial--this was the first time in history that it's ever flown there. Newfoundland didn't join Confederation until 1949, so there's never been any official acknowledgment by the Government of Canada of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's part in WWI. Until now, of course.
The flag was designed by Newfoundland artist Christopher Pratt, for anyone who likes to know these things.
My choir's wreath. The place I was told to lay it was just right of centre--quite a prominent position.
After the service was over, the wreaths were moved back against the base of the Memorial so that they wouldn't get knocked over or stepped on by Canada Day revellers. This is me and my Mom. The wreath on the left was laid by the Memorial University of Newfoundland (the wreath-layers went up in pairs and I walked with the representative from MUN). Mom, Dad, and I all have degrees from Memorial--my sister was being artistic in arranging this shot. Our ties, BTW, are made from Newfoundland tartan.
After the service, the choir posed for a picture in front of the Memorial. The helmet at the lower left lies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb was covered in flags and flowers when we went back downtown to watch the fireworks later in the evening.
We have a choir mascot--a Newfoundland dog, of course--who was supposed to be at the ceremony with us, but she developed an acute case of glaucoma the day before and was at the vet's under sedation. :-(
Everyone in my choir was so pleased that we were asked to do this. My mother was especially thrilled--my grandfather, a WWI veteran (and former member of the Regiment), often participated in memorial ceremonies here in Ottawa, so that made for a nice bit of continuity.
The memorial service went very well. The weather was great--sunny and warm, but not humid. The bright sunlight tended to bleach out the pictures a little, but it sure beat the rain they'd been forecasting earlier in the week. Everything went just the way it was supposed to and I didn't trip when laying the choir's wreath (phew). After laying the wreath, however, my skirt got caught in the chair I was temporarily parked in before scooting back to the choir to sing the national anthem and I had two people helping me try to get it unhooked. At least I wasn't on-camera when that happened.
If you were looking for me on TV and couldn't find me, it's because the service was broadcast on CBC Newsworld instead of the regular CBC channel. Which I didn't find out until after I arrived at the site, which meant that I didn't get it on videotape. However, another choir member did and her father has even put it on DVD for me. When I pick it up later this week, I'm going to upload it to YouSendIt so that my relatives in the U.S. can see it. I'll post the link here too.
My sister took pics with my camera. The main square around the National War Memorial was reserved for all the various dignitaries, including the Prime Minister and Governor General, so she couldn't get very close to anything. She didn't know that I was laying a wreath so was quite shocked when she heard my name announced.
This is the Newfoundland flag flying over the top of the Memorial--this was the first time in history that it's ever flown there. Newfoundland didn't join Confederation until 1949, so there's never been any official acknowledgment by the Government of Canada of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's part in WWI. Until now, of course.
The flag was designed by Newfoundland artist Christopher Pratt, for anyone who likes to know these things.
My choir's wreath. The place I was told to lay it was just right of centre--quite a prominent position.
After the service was over, the wreaths were moved back against the base of the Memorial so that they wouldn't get knocked over or stepped on by Canada Day revellers. This is me and my Mom. The wreath on the left was laid by the Memorial University of Newfoundland (the wreath-layers went up in pairs and I walked with the representative from MUN). Mom, Dad, and I all have degrees from Memorial--my sister was being artistic in arranging this shot. Our ties, BTW, are made from Newfoundland tartan.
After the service, the choir posed for a picture in front of the Memorial. The helmet at the lower left lies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb was covered in flags and flowers when we went back downtown to watch the fireworks later in the evening.
We have a choir mascot--a Newfoundland dog, of course--who was supposed to be at the ceremony with us, but she developed an acute case of glaucoma the day before and was at the vet's under sedation. :-(
Everyone in my choir was so pleased that we were asked to do this. My mother was especially thrilled--my grandfather, a WWI veteran (and former member of the Regiment), often participated in memorial ceremonies here in Ottawa, so that made for a nice bit of continuity.