Children lay Wreath for the Innocents at Firle War Memorial: act highlights ‘true cost of conflict’, says priest and TV presenter Peter Owen-Jones
Children laid a Wreath for the Innocents at Firle’s War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday (November 9).
Reverend Peter Owen-Jones, the parish priest for Firle, Glynde and Beddingham, said this is the first time that this kind of wreath has been laid in this country.
He said it was made by the children at Firle C of E Primary School who laid it during the Remembrance service.
Revd Owen-Jones, who is also an author and TV presenter (known for ‘How to Live a Simple Life’ and ‘Around the World in 80 Faiths’), explained that the wreath commemorates and remembers ‘all the innocent life that is lost in all wars’.
He told the Sussex Express: “In the Second World War there were between 20 and 25 million service men and women who lost their lives. However civilian losses were double that and those losses are not currently recognised in any Remembrance Day gatherings and services. It is now quite clear that it is civilians, women, children and the elderly who bear the brunt of conflict, and as long as we continue to ‘not remember them’ the true cost of war and conflict will remain largely in the shadows.”
He said the Wreath for the Innocents aims to address this omission. He added that the flowers on it were drawn by the school children while the wreath itself was made by Tamsin French.
The wreath was also laid on the memorial at 11am on Tuesday, November 11.