Special Royal British Legion pilgrimage to Menin Gate for Garstang's David Brewin and Roger Dunn

Two members of Garstang's British Legion took key roles in a remembrance event held in Ypres to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Roger and David with standard and wreathRoger and David with standard and wreath
Roger and David with standard and wreath

Standard bearer Roger Dunn and wreath layer David Brewin were among thousands of people joining the Great Pilgrimage 90 (GP90) earlier this month.

The pilgrimage of remembrance to World War One battlefields culminated in a parade and ceremony in Ypres.

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It marked 90 years since the original Royal British Legion Pilgrimage in 1928, when 11,000 World War One veterans and war widows visited the battlefields of the Somme in France and Ypres in Belgium, a decade after the conflict ended.

The Garstang wreathThe Garstang wreath
The Garstang wreath

This year’s pilgrimage was the largest event in the British Legion charity’s history.

Roger and David, who were representing both the Garstang branch of the British Legion and the local community, toured some of the same battlefields and cemeteries visited by those on the 1928 Pilgrimage, before marching along the original route through Ypres, to the Menin Gate on August 8, bearing their branch standard and a wreath.

David Brewin then laid the wreath on behalf of the Garstang community at the Menin Gate.

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The wreath, complete with its message from Garstang, will be displayed until Friday.

Roger said: “Great Pilgrimage 90 was a unique opportunity for the Legion community to come together and bear our Standards along the same route in Ypres taken 90 years earlier by the veterans and widows of the First World War.

“The Garstang Branch was proud to march alongside a number of other branches representing Lancashire at the event.”

Following the parade there was an afternoon of entertainment in the Great Square, with tableaux, stalls, exhibits and musical entertainment provided by The Central Band of the Royal British Legion and Royal Marines.

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The public were also encouraged to make the trip across to Ypres and watch the parade and ceremony.

• The Royal British Legion’s motto is " Live On – to the memory of the fallen and the future of the living”.

To find out more about the pilgrimage event or the Garstang branch of the British Legion see www.britishlegion.org.uk or contact David Brewin on 07984 405739.