A beautiful and moving poem mysteriously appeared on the war memorial after the Remembrance Day service on Sunday November 8. It gathered a lot of attention from onlookers with many reading it with a tear in their eye. It fitted in very well with the wreaths and crosses commemorating the fallen. The poem was then moved in its frame for safekeeping to the Clare Chapel in St Mary’s Church.
Rye News has tracked down the author of the poem, who is Millie Bailey from Peasmarsh. Millie, who is now 13, wrote the poem last year as part of a school competition to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the first World War. When we spoke to her, Millie had no idea how the poem had made its way to the service. But Rye News, using a blend of forensic detective skills and a splash of feminine intuition suspected that proud grandmother, Judy Pope, who with her husband Stuart runs the River Haven hotel and restaurant on Strand Quay might have had something to do with it.
Sure enough Judy was responsible – though indirectly. Stuart had copied out the poem, leaving a big space on the right hand side. Judy decided to fill that with a painting of a poppy. Her friend saw the finished work and decided to buy it, making a donation to the Poppy Appeal. And then we can only assume that Judy’s friend thought it would be a good idea to display it at the war memorial, where it went down very well with the assembled masses who were remembering those who died in the service of their country.
Photo: Kenneth Bird