By Bill McCarthy

A Remembrance Sunday with a difference was celebrated with a small but poignant ceremony at All Saints Church, Four Oaks.

Reverend Canon Adrian Leahy gave a short tribute and prayer in memory of the fallen in a ceremony attended by just a handful of people, where previously there would have been hundreds, in a service hampered by Covid 19 lockdown restrictions.

He then laid a wreath, as did a representative from Sutton Coldfield Town Council and the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands.

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A bugler then played the last post before a two-minute silence was held in memory of the fallen British and Commonwealth servicemen and women.

The Remembrance ceremony takes place on the Sunday closest to the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month when the First World War armistice was signed.

Rev Leahy concluded with some of the words from a poem from Robert Laurence Binyon:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Rev Leahy said the event had proved a challenge with the Covid restrictions in place.

He said: “The hardest thing for me is seeing that church door behind us closed and the grounds almost empty where there would normally be hundreds of people.

“I’m pleased we were able to put something together and am grateful to those who took part.”

He also praised the efforts of Scouts and Guides who had managed to help decorate the church grounds with plastic poppies along lawn edges, wrapped around a large tree and a number of painted memorial stones at the foot of a tree in the church grounds..

Despite the restrictions, Rev Leahy said he was still managing to conduct services with the help of a loudspeaker and Zoom connection and said he was grateful for everyone’s patience.

All Saints Church is on the corner of Bellwell Lane and Walsall Road, for information, visit www.allsaintsfouroaks.org.uk