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Residents from the parish of Aldingbourne gathered together on Remembrance Sunday [10th November] for a special tree-planting ceremony to commemorate members of the community who served and died on the Somme in the First World War.

Only a single oak survived the destruction of Delville Wood at Longueval, site of the last battle on the Somme which raged from July to September 1916. Former chair of Aldingbourne Parish Council Martin Beaton was given an acorn from the tree at the centenary of the start of the War in 2014, and over the past ten years had grown it into a sapling. On Sunday Revd Canon Fr Paul Armistead and Revd Graham Reeves, along with representatives of the Parish Council and Royal British Legion, conducted a ceremony to plant the tree in the churchyard of St Mary’s, Aldingbourne, witnessed by around 20 residents.

The ceremony began with a speech by Martin Beaton explaining the origin of the tree, after which Fr Paul blessed the tree and sprinkled it with holy water. In his dedication, Fr Paul said:

“We are not just commemorating lives lost today – we are giving life by this wonderful gift of a tree to the churchyard. It is particularly appropriate that this sapling be planted next to the one the Parish Council gave us ten years ago to mark the anniversary of the start of the First World War”.

Aldingbourne residents watch the planting ceremony at St Mary's

Introducing a two minute silence, Cmdr Chris Baldwin (RN), Chair of the Royal British Legion Arundel and District Branch, read lines from Laurence Binyon’s First World War poem ‘For the Fallen’:

“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. When you go home, tell them of us and say, ‘For your tomorrow, we gave our today’ “.

Current Chair of Aldingbourne Parish Council Dr Mario Trabucco della Torretta read out the words inscribed on a plaque the Council had commissioned to be installed next to the sapling:

“We dedicate this oak tree taken from an acorn that survived the destruction of Delville Wood at Longueval in the Somme area of France during the First World War. Members of the community served and died at the Somme, and we plant this oak in their memory as a lasting reminder of their service”.

The occasion was especially moving as it was attended by an Aldingbourne resident whose great-uncle had died at the same wood during the war, and who placed a cross next to the tree in his memory.

After the ceremony, participants were able to chat to each other over tea and homemade cakes kindly provided by the church.

Tree from the Somme planted to honour Aldingbourne war dead