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Revd David Potterton will commemorate VJ Day 75 and the end of the second world war in the churchyard at Emery Down.  This site has been chosen because the lychgate in the parish of Emery Down and Bank is the only war memorial on church property.  COVID-19 and socially distancing restrictions mean that this probably cannot be a public event nor held in a public place.  However, it will be filmed and published on the Benefice YouTube channel and Facebook pages.  I shall let you know if the situation changes, as it seems to do every day, we may operate a booking system for socially distanced attendance!

Although none of the men named in the lychgate fought in the Far East, there are those in the churchyard who were involved.  Notably Sir Roy ‘Gus’ HALLIDAY who lived in Bank, Ronald James MILLARD MC from Sandy Lane and Sir Dennis WHITE, Emery Down, who was a POW in Kuching, Sarawak.

Please contact us if you or you have a relative who was involved in the war in the far East in any way and tell us their story.  It may be that you or your relative is a member of a local family or that you live in the Benefice now –Allum Green, Bank, Emery Down, Lyndhurst or Minstead.  We plan to hold a record in the church which we hope will be available in 25 years’ time for VJ DAY 100.  Please email communications@newforestparishes.com

Whilst the event on 15 August is not a public one, you can take part beforehand by helping to decorate the oak cross in the churchyard with commemorative poppies, ribbons (red, white or blue), shells, dried wood from the forest, feathers, fresh flowers or place painted stones at its base. Please use biodegradable twine, if necessary, to attach your token to the jute ribbon wound around the cross.