Members of Camborne Youth Band recently had the honour of attending the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium, as part of the band’s tour to Flanders to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Memorial

The Menin Gate monument is a memorial to the 54,338 men of the British Commonwealth who died in the Ypres Salient and have no known grave. The ‘Last Post’ has been played every night since 1928 at 8.00pm by members of the Ypres Volunteer Fire Brigade.

The band and its supporters left Camborne on Thursday to travel to Ypres to take part in the ceremony, where a visibly moved crowd of nearly 3000 gathered to listen as the band, conducted by MD Alan Pope, played ‘A Special Place’ by Cornish composer Goff Richards, ‘In Flanders Fields’ by Gavin Somerset and the ‘National Anthem’.

The Menin Gate ceremony was the high point of the band’s four-day tour, made possible by months of fundraising.

Whilst in Flanders they also gave concerts in Ypres and Diksmuide, whilst the players also took the opportunity to visit First World War sites4BR

Concerts

Whilst in Flanders they also gave concerts in Ypres and Diksmuide, whilst the players also took the opportunity to visit First World War sites which included Tyne Cot Cemetery, Sanctuary Wood Museum (Hill 62), Belgian trenches and the Flanders Field museum in Ypres.

A number of the players are now busy as part of Camborne Junior Contesting Band preparing for the National Championships at Cheltenham.