Chichester care home pays tribute to the fallen with special Remembrance event

The event, which took place at the care home on Friday (November 7), featured the unveiling of a commissioned Remembrance painting, a video honouring the fallen, and a talk on the Royal Sussex Regiment by veterans liaison officer David Tilley.

Produced by local artist and Royal Navy veteran David Shannon, the painting features hundreds of poppies cascading down the canvas and out of the frame – representing the sheer number of people who lost their lives during the First World War.

“The background is green, but I knew I was going to cover it up with poppies. It’s the base,” Mr Shannon explained as he discussed the process behind the artwork. “You’ve got the beaches of France looking out to the white cliffs of Dover. This is now peace time.

“You can see spitfires and bluebirds, which are part of the mythology created by Vera Lynn. There are also a couple of destroyers – one of the Navy’s mottos is ‘eternal vigilance’, so we will guard our sea borders.”

Mr Shannon added that he spent hours cutting out poppies of various sizes in different shades of red, each symbolic of a life lost.

The unveiling of his painting was followed by a short video created by Tom Wilson, owner of Chichester-based videography company Black Magic. Working alongside Jackie Cridlin, event organiser and home admissions advisor at Lakeview Grange, he compiled pictures of fallen individuals. The video then highlighted the 661 people from Chichester who have lost their lives as a result of conflict, with their names in a tiny font filling the screen.

Finally, David Tilley, representing Queens Branch Chichester, gave a talk on the Royal Sussex Regiment, touching on the significance of medals and what they represent.

The event was attended by Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller, who shared her own personal loss with the care home’s residents.

“A huge thank you to Jackie for having a vision of bringing all corners of Chichester together to recognise the contribution that those who are still with us – and those who aren’t with us anymore – have made,” she said.

“Thank you for inviting me to include my friend, who was shown in the video, who we lost. He was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2012. It is always a pleasure and a privilege to know that he is still recognised.”

Many of those present had their own memories of conflict and the loss that comes with it, including Brian Morley and Matthew Cole, ex-servicemen, Colonel John Barkshire (CBE), who served in the Duke of Wellington and King’s Regiments and is now a resident at Lakeview Grange, and many others with stories of surviving wars, losing family and friends, and even entertaining troops.

Jackie, too, shared her personal dedication to Remembrance, explaining that the event was something she had hoped to do for a long time.

“I have family who have fought for their countries from all over the world,” she said. “I recently met a wonderful guy called Tom Wilson, who owns Black Magic.

“We sat and had a coffee one afternoon, and I said: ‘Tom, I would love to think that going forward, Lakeview Grange is the name – the home – that’s got a reputation for recognising those who have fought tirelessly for their country, and I want people to know that they can come in at any time and sit with a coffee or a tea and remember those veterans.”

The event concluded with the cutting of a Remembrance cake and those who wished to do so putting a poppy on the care home’s ‘live poppy wall’.