Southwick, Sunderland

Honour our War Dead here and post your photos of your local Remembrance Day events
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jbryce1437
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Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Southwick, Sunderland

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

I was born and raised in the Southwick district of Sunderland and make every effort to attend the annual Remembrance Day service at the local War Memorial. As a child, I attended the church across the road to the War Memorial and, each year, we were marched across the road to take part in the service of remembrance.
Sunderland itself boasts one of the largest Remembrance Day parades outside of London but, within Sunderland there are several local War Memorials, Southwick being one of them, and others in the former Coal Mining communities and districts.
At the time of the First World War, Southwick was a Township in its own right and many local men and boys joined the armed forces, together with those serving in the Merchant Navy.
Tragically, some 164 of them never returned and were killed in action during that campaign. After the First World War, a Cenotaph was built on the Village Green to commemorate those lost between 1914 and 1918.
Those lost in the First World War are commemorated in this video.

1914_18.jpg


In the lead up to the depression, Southwick was incorporated into Sunderland in 1928.
During the Second World War there was again a great influx into the Armed Forces. Sadly, around 100 were killed and never returned to their families.
My mothers brother, my uncle, was possibly the first Southwick man to lose his life in the Second World War. He was badly injured on the sinking of HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow in October 1939, and died from his injuries in a Naval Hospital at Invergordon some three weeks later. His body was returned to Southwick and, it is said, that his funeral was probably the biggest ever seen in Southwick.
Unfortunately, many of the others that lost their lives during the war have no known graves.
After the war, one of the blank panels on the Southwick War Memorial had the inscription 1939-1945 added, but there are no names on it. Moves are afoot locally to try and get the names of those who died in both conflicts added to the memorial.
Those lost in the Second World War are commemorated in this video

1939_45.jpg



Some photos from previous Remembrance Day years

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HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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Little h
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Re: Southwick, Sunderland

Unread post by Little h »

Thanks for the post Jim.

I note a considerable presence of fellow members of an organisation within which I was very active from 1972 to late 1990's - the RAOB (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes)- having held all the offices including the head of the Province during that period.
Little h
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jbryce1437
Posts: 1879
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:28 pm
Location: Roker, Sunderland

Re: Southwick, Sunderland

Unread post by jbryce1437 »

Little h wrote: Sun Nov 17, 2019 7:51 pm Thanks for the post Jim.

I note a considerable presence of fellow members of an organisation within which I was very active from 1972 to late 1990's - the RAOB (Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes)- having held all the offices including the head of the Province during that period.
Yes Harry, it is that Lodge that helps to organise the event and keep it going. Sadly, there is no sound reproduction so a lot of what is said cannot be heard, particularly since passing traffic also drowns out the speeches. Some sort of sound reproduction is required. For the Last Post and Reveille, one of their members cars (the grey car to the right of the monument in the attachment) is pulled up onto the pavement and a CD is played on the car stereo.

Jim

IMG_7531.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
HMS Raleigh 1963 , HMS Collingwood 1963 & 67 , HMS Ark Royal 1964-7, HMS Undaunted 1968-71, HMS Victory (Fleet Maintenance Group) 1971-72, HMS Exmouth 1972-74
JEM, EM, OEM, LOEM, POOEL
Then 28 years in the Fire Brigade
Retired since 2002
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