Memorial at Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey.

Thank you to all those who attended and who endured the rain for the first part of our service. It was noted that if the clocks hadn’t gone back then we would have been dry for the whole event.

We were honoured to have in attendance the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Mr Michael More-Molyneaux and his wife Sarah, who were accompanied by the recently appointed Lord Lieutenant’s cadet ATC Cadet Flight Sergeant Lucas Reeve.

The Czech Embassy was represented by the Deputy Head of Mission to the Czech Embassy Michal Strouhal, and we were delighted to welcome for the first time the new Deputy Head of Mission to the Slovak Embassy Ms Denisa Medvedova.

Our Czech Defence Attaché General Beran and the new Slovak Defence Attaché Colonel Peter Sliacky took part in the event along with fellow Defence representatives from the Australian, Polish and American Embassies. The British Army Lieutenant Colonel Paintin, and RAF Air Commodore Harper also joined our event for the first time.

We were so pleased to have the Mayor and Mayoress of Woking, Cllr Raja and his wife join us once more.

Our parade was organised by Parade Marshall Commandant Nigel Jackson of Frimley Camberley Cadet Corps and included the Corps of Drums from The Reed School and a group of their cadets, along with the Scouts from Chrumdin, in the Czech Republic. Thank you to their Scout Leader Martin Pavlis for reading the excerpt from Laurence Binyon’s “For the Fallen” and the Kohima epitaph in our act of remembrance and to Ruth Moore whose Last Post was pitch perfect as always. The MAFCSV are proud to continue this special partnership with the Scouts from the Czech Republic and help them to learn about their veterans here at Brookwood.

As we came to the wreath laying ceremony the rain stopped and the sun started to break through. Thank you to all those who laid tributes at our monument, I am sure the veterans would have been astounded at how many there were. In addition to those laid by the dignitaries there were ones from: the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the American Battle Monuments Commission the Friends of the Czechoslovak Memorial Fountain, The Secret WW2 Learning Network, The Polish Airmen’s Association and the SAS. The staff parents and children laid flowers from several Czech and Slovak Schools including The Czech School, Berkshire and The Czech and Slovak Community and School, Bristol. Denise Mellion laid a wreath on behalf of 311 Squadron and several families laid their own flowers as a mark of respect.

The cadet parade then led us through the gates to the civilian section where the Czech and Slovak Embassies placed wreaths to those who are buried in the civilian plot. We then joined the Ludikar family as they interred the ashes of our friend and honorary MAFCSV member Hana, wife of Marcel.

I was very proud to read an obituary about Hana that summarised her eventful life. It was a reminder that Hana’s generation were truly remarkable and what they considered an ‘ordinary’ life seems to us ‘extra-ordinary’. She embodied everything our veterans and their families stood for; courage, tenacity, and the drive to always seek the truth. We will all miss her enormously.

Our event ended with refreshments in the Estaminet courteous of our good friend Eddie Jones and his wonderful team. Thank you to all of you who brought biscuits and cakes to share, they must have been good because there wasn’t one left at the end of the day!

Looking back on today and I am so pleased that we didn’t take the decision to cancel because of the weather forecast. Seeing the effort everyone made to be there, the tributes they brought and the shared act of remembrance we all took part in was very special. Each, and everyone who attended helped contribute to that, for which, I am truly grateful. Thank you.