Come to the Saints and Soldiers flower show
THIS weekend St Peter's Church at East Blatchington hosts a Flower Show and the theme this year will be Saints and Soldiers.
The church and parish hall will be bedecked with flowers and information about local saints and soldiers who have been associated with the town, particularly the seven Victoria Cross holders.
Seaford has a proud tradition of involvement with the military, from the Battle of Mercreadsburn in the year 485, to the Armed Services Day held at the Martello fields just last weekend. Mercreadsburn is where the Saxons and the Britons clashed and many historians believe this to have been at Seaford.
But the exhibition will focus on people, rather than battles. Local people like Cuthbert Bromley who lived at Sutton Corner. Bromley was the son of Sir John Bromley of Sutton Place, Seaford. He was raised in the town and by 1915, at the age of 36 he was a Major in the 1st Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. On 25th April 1915 his regiment landed at Cape Helles on the infamous Gallipoli Peninsular.
The British Army intended to attack Constantinople (Istanbul) by landing troops here but the area was strongly defended by Turkish troops. When the troops, led my Major Bromley, landed they were met by heavy machine gun fire which caused a great many casualties. Amazingly, Major Bromley managed to continue through the bullets, rush the beach, scale a cliff and establish a forward post. For this action he was awarded a Victoria Cross.
He was wounded three days later and again on 28th June. He was evacuated to Egypt but was keen to return to the front. Tragically the troop ship on which he was travelling was torpedoed with the loss of over 900 lives. His body was never recovered.
Cuthbert Bromley is remembered on Seaford War Memorial and on a brass plaque at St Leonard's Church.
He is also remembered on his father's grave at Seaford Cemetery and Bromley Road is named after him.
Not only Victoria Cross holders but other great military men had a connection with Seaford including General Gordon, the Duke of Wellington and Winston Churchill.
Even Kitchener came to Seaford on 20th July 1915 to review the troops who had been lined up on the playing fields of St Peter's School off the Alfriston Road.
When it comes to Saints there are several to choose from, including St Richard of Chichester and St Cuthman who pushed his mother through Sussex in a wheelbarrow! We mustn't forget St Dunstan who tweaked the devil's nose at Mayfield or of course our own Saint Lewinna, a Saxon woman from the Seaford area who was killed for her Christian beliefs in the year 690. She was buried at a local church – most probably St Andrew's Bishopstone although St Andrew's at Alfriston also has a good claim to her.
Her shrine is said to have been decorated by colourful votive rags and parchments but her resting place was broken into at Easter 1058 when a thieving Flemish monk called Balgerus stole her remains.
In those days the bones of saints were valuable talismans and the monk took them with him to his monastery in Flanders.
In 1224 the relics were moved to a new shrine but the abbey was sacked in 1383 by Norman troops, who stole them despite an attempt to hide them behind a false wall.
The bones were later returned but in 1558 the abbey was burnt by French Protestants and only one rib was recovered.
A visit to St Peter's Church will not disappoint. It is an ancient church with a fascinating history.
It has seen its fair share of military funerals especially during the Napoleonic threat when soldiers and their families at the Blatchington Barracks were buried here.
The Great War also took its toll of the men from the village and there is an illuminated scroll on display in the church listing the thirteen men who never returned from their service. But (like Christopher Wren) "if you seek their memorial look around you" for the chancel was repaired and 'beautified' in 1921 as a permanent memorial to the men.
The organ was also installed to their memory.
So come along to St Peter's this weekend to see the beautiful flowers and find out more about our local saints and soldiers.
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Weather for Lewes
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
