A field for the Fallen

THOUSANDS of little wooden crosses all lined up, each carrying a poppy and adorned with a message clearly mattering to someone.

The Field of Remembrance at Saltwell Park in Gateshead is back following its successful introduction last year.

Situated near Saltwell Towers, the grand Victorian mansion, the memorial was opened on Saturday 2 November with a service led by The Reverend James Breslin, Chaplain to the Royal British Legion in Northumbria. A two-minute silence was held at 11am.

Yesterday, of course, was Remembrance Sunday and, in keeping with tradition, the Queen was joined by thousands of veterans and civilians at the Cenotaph in London for a further two-minute silence to remember fallen service personnel.

And today, on Armistice Day itself, I paid my own respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for Britain with a visit to the impressive sea of crosses and poppies at Saltwell.

The Field of Remembrance only came about following a campaign by north east newspaper, the Sunday Sun, and the family of Tyneside Rifleman Mark Turner.

Aged just 21, Rifleman Turner, from Sheriff Hill in Gateshead, was killed in 2010 by an improvised explosive device as he searched for roadside bombs in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

Ever since, his mother Anne has worked tirelessly on creating a place where loved ones could pay tribute to absent family members and friends. Plans on creating a permanent garden are still ongoing.
 
For now, visitors have until dusk on 15 November to see the temporary arrangement. 

And the sun was indeed setting on another crisp winter day as I knelt down and planted my little wooden cross into the earth.

But, before the cloak of darkness could once again fall across Tyneside, I read one last message which featured the words of Laurence Binyon from his commemorative poem, For the Fallen.

Originally published in the Times in September 1914, it included Binyon's famous Ode of Remembrance: "Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them."

• Donations to the Royal British Legion can be made on their website here.