January 2022

13 Buckden Roundabout January 2022 BUCKDEN BRANCH - ROYAL BRITISH LEGION £5, First, my normal apology for the fact that this doesn ’ t come out until late in December. The Roundabout ’ s per- fectly reasonable copy date and the dates of Remem- brance Sunday and/or Armistice Day do not work well together. Last year I told a tale of great improvisation in the face of constantly changing Covid rules. At the end I expressed the hope that this year we would be “ back to normal ”. Well, “ nearly but not quite ” is probably a good descrip- tion. We were allowed to carry out a full house to house Pop- py collection round the village this year. This was hugely successful, producing an overall total (including the church collection on Remembrance Sunday) of £5,161.23; our best result ever. Huge thanks go to Tim and Celia Walker who made it all happen, to all our col- lectors, who worked so hard to get a fantastic result, to the shops and other establishments who allowed us to display collecting boxes, to those who assembled to count it all and, of course, to everyone who donated so generously, which included a very substantial contribu- tion from the staff and inmates at HMP Littlehey. Tim and Celia could still do with a few more collectors for next year if anyone is able to volunteer (there is, of course, always the press gang!). It was good to be able to reinstate our short ceremony at the War Memorial on Armistice Day this year and it was real pleasure to see so many people there, particularly children and teachers from Buckden School. I am grate- ful to our new Priest in Charge, David Sheppard, for doing his side of the ceremony at fairly short notice; he was obviously expecting Remembrance Sunday, but was slightly dragooned into this one! Remembrance Sunday itself qualified as “ there or therea- bouts ”. For good and obvious reasons attendance in church was limited and most of the congregation had to remain masked during the service. Regardless of the re- strictions, it was good to be back to our normal Remem- brance Sunday service, with very few changes. Having been able to rehearse the previous Thursday evening I think it all went off pretty well. As usual, I have numer- ous people to thank for their contribution. First, of course, David and everyone else for St Mary ’ s and Buckden Churches Together. The Royal British Le- gion is all about Remembrance, but Remembrance Sun- day is a religious ceremony first and foremost. Secondly, our new Standard Bearer, Ian Clarke, who took this on at short notice and did a magnificent job. I am very happy to say that he has agreed to continue in the role for the foreseeable future. Next, my thanks go to Chris Bylett for his beautiful solo following the two minutes silence. You may recall that in the past there has been a choir in the ringing chamber in the tower, unfortunately there is a crack in the lintel over the door into the tower, so it is closed to everyone except the Phil, the Tower Captain until we can get it fixed. Thanks also to Toby Jones, who read the second lesson so clearly and to Steph Aldridge, who stood up with me to give the dedication as if she had been doing it for years. Last, but absolutely not least, to Michelle, who sounded the Last Post and Reveil- le; definitely the best one yet of our Remembrance Sun- days! Finally, for Remembrance Sunday, a word about that part of the ceremony conducted outside. Some of you, who kindly came along, will remember our unofficial service in the churchyard last year. It was suggested, primarily by our church wardens, that is would be better and safer for the young members of the uniformed branches, to con- tinue to conduct that part of the ceremony in the church- yard, rather than outside in the road. I had some reser- vations but agreed and events showed that my reserva- tions were unfounded. Everyone we spoke to afterwards appeared to be in favour of continuing the arrangement in the future and liked the improved safety it conferred. On that basis, I think we will conduct future outside parts of the Remembrance Sunday service in the same way, with a little fine tuning. After the service and coffee at the Methodist Church Hall, for which many thanks, I assembled with a few like - minded souls at the Lion to consume beer and reminisce. Buckden Branch RBL functions for Remembrance Sunday and the Poppy collection, but is otherwise pretty much dormant. There was agreement among those assembled that it would be good to meet occasionally and informal- ly during the year for a beer and a chat amongst mem- bers, ex - service people, whether members or not and anyone else interested in coming along. This would all be quite informal, there would be no pressure to join the Legion if you are not already a member (I am, of course, happy to help anyone who does want to), but it would be nice to generate a bit of activity outside the Remem- brance period. If anyone would be interested, could you contact me on peter.mount@btconnect.com or ring me on (01480) 810805 (leave a message if we are not there; we check the answer machine regularly). If there is enough inter- est, I will set something up for March 2022 and circulate and we can take it from there. Peter Mount. Chairman. Village News