Remembrance Through Music and Verse: A Moving Evening at Swaby St Nicholas’ Church

On Tuesday 11th November 2025, St Nicholas’ Church Swaby hosted a poignant Remembrance evening that blended poetry, music, and storytelling to honour those who served and suffered in wartime. Thirty attendees gathered in the candlelit church from 6pm to 8pm, enveloped in an atmosphere of reflection and community.

The evening opened with a service led by Helen Marsden, whose evocative retelling of a tale from the Burma Railway stirred deep emotion. Each morning, Allied prisoners of war were marched to work by Japanese soldiers - only to be met by a courageous woman who offered them water. Despite being knocked down daily by the guards, she returned each morning with the same quiet act of defiance and compassion. Her story served as a powerful reminder of resilience and humanity in the darkest of times.

Local villagers then gave voice to the words of World War One poets, including Wilfred Owen and John McCrae. Their readings echoing through the nave with solemn grace. This was followed by stirring songs from War Horse and a medley of wartime sounds—ingeniously played on ukuleles—that brought both nostalgia and surprise.

A lighter interlude invited all to join in a sing-along of wartime favourites such as Run Rabbit Run and (There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover, lifting spirits and voices alike.

The mood shifted once more with the haunting sound of a whistle - symbolic of the call to rise from the trenches - followed by the Last Post. This marked the close of the performance with reverent stillness.

Afterwards, warmth returned in the form of spiced hot soup, bread rolls, and generous helpings of apple pie with cream. It was a deeply moving and beautifully balanced evening - one that honoured memory with dignity, creativity, and heartfelt community spirit.