Iconic cemetery hosts Remembrance Day choir as Olympians visit Menin Gate
11 November 2011
Events are under way at two of the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission's most iconic sites today (Friday, 11 November). At Tyne
Cot Cemetery - the Commission's largest burial ground, with almost
12,000 First World War burials - members of the CBSO Chorus from
Birmingham will honour the fallen with a rendition of 'Abide with
Me', whilst at the Menin Gate in nearby Ieper, which lists the
names of almost 55,000 casualties with no known grave, Olympians
from the UK, France, Belgium and Germany gathered as part of a
special Remembrance Day event, ahead of next year's Olympic
Games.
Almost 60 members of the CBSO Chorus will be paying their
respects by singing at Tyne Cot Cemetery; taking time out from
their tour of Belgium, where they are performing the War Requiem,
by Benjamin Britten, with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra
under Conductor Martyn Brabbins.
Stephen Maddock, Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) said: " This tour of Belgium by the CBSO
is particularly poignant because of the nature of the work that is
being performed. Britten's War Requiem is a timeless meditation on
the pity of war, which contains both the poetry of Wilfred Owen and
the Latin Mass for the Dead. Written for the consecration of the
new Coventry Cathedral, after the medieval Cathedral was destroyed
during the Second World War, it is a piece that is particularly
important to the CBSO family as we performed the premiere and will
be giving the 50th anniversary performance in May 2012."
Prior to the ceremony at Tyne Cot, which started at 15:00 CET,
the annual service of commemoration took place at 11:00 at the
Menin Gate, the venue for the nightly "Last Post" service - which
has been performed every evening since 1928, except for several
years during the Second World War. Several medal winners from past
Olympic Games were present, including Lord Moynihan, the Chairman
of the British Olympic Association.
Ian Hussein, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Director
for northern Europe said: "These events and the people attending
them will focus attention on what are two stark physical reminders
of the consequences of war, but we hope they will also bring people
from a variety of nations closer together as athletes prepare for
London 2012."