WOYWW Week 910 - Lest We Forget

Hello Everyone

Pip Art Creations

As always, I remember all those in my family who served in the forces, went to war, and especially those that lost their lives in WW11. Never forgotten.

It's been a sad time for me and for so many of us, especially recently with the loss of Sarah. I'm just thankful for the memories. 

Here's the desk as it is this morning.

There's a page waiting completion, two sets of nesting dies, the mug of ink brushes with ink pads, and a pack of stencils all recently used and waiting to be put back where they came from. The photo is of my late mother cuddling her first great-grandchild. The embroidered sewing bag was made by my son when he was at primary school. That makes it over 40 years old! It's there because I needed a fine needle to unblock the bottle of liquid glue used to stick things like old title letters and enamel dots that have lost their stickiness. 

It's been so long since I used any stencils to create a background that I'm out of practice but I did manage to create a couple this last week. Here's the two pages made with them. 

It's said that practice makes perfect but I still have a way to go before I get to that stage. I'm on a mission to use up as many scraps leftover from Shimelle's Clear the Desk Live classes as possible. These pages are the most recent attempts. 

There's no stencilling on the next page I put together.

A few more scraps went into this one. I've used punches and dies to create embellishments for the clusters and there's a few Scrap-a-Sketch printables included too. 

I have a couple of shots taken while waiting for the bus yesterday morning. 

Looking South toward Saltcoats

Looking North towards Ardrossan Harbour

It was misty and extremely cold - only 4C degrees - but the sun was doing it's best to break through. The bus, when it arrived, took me to Irvine to the place where I'm currently a volunteer. 

Finally for today, the pic of Silver.

Doesn't she look cosy. 

That's me for this week, a bit late but I got here eventually. As usual, if you don't already do so, I urge you to join in with WOYWW. You can do this by clicking on this link, Stamping Ground, where you will be made most welcome.

Take care and have a fabulous week.

Elizabeth

Lest We Forget

James Patrick Douglas

Stretcher Bearer WW1

Margaret Douglas wife of James Patrick Douglas &

their children, Elizabeth & Robert Douglas

Remembrance Day

Hello Everyone,

There's been a lot of remembering this week ... the media have been doing much to mark the Centenary of the end of the WW1 in 1918, concluding today, of course, with Remembrance Day Services all over the country.

A Girvan shopfront memorial

All this had me thinking back to the Remembrance Day Parades I took part in as a member of  the Women's Royal Army Corps. One in particular. It was 1966 and I was stationed at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. The weather was like today, miserably chilly and raining, so the dress order was to wear our greatcoats.

This was an aptly named garment - made of a thick wool fabric. Heavy at the best of times, it got steadily heavier as the rain poured down. I'm sure that by the end of the parade my coat weighed a good 6-7 pounds more than it had when we set out that morning. Remembering that day got me to thinking about the men fighting in the trenches of WW1.

No lightweight man-made fabrics for these Scottish soldiers and those kilts must have been like my greatcoat - warm when dry but heavy and decidedly uncomfortable when soaked ... and it did rain - a lot!

The greatcoats, which had been regulation garments for British forces since the Crimean War of the 1850s, proved ill-suited to the desperate conditions. Weighed down by mud, it was apparently not unusual for the long-suffering soldiers to use their bayonets to slash lengths of fabric from the sodden coats.

I was lucky, I only had to suffer for a few hours but remembering has made me spare a thought for the men who had no choice but to wear garments that were, by today's standards, not fit for purpose. Men like my great-grandfather. 

James Patrick Douglas, 1867-1930. He enlisted in 1915, aged 48, and served as a Regimental stretcher bearer with a Field Ambulance unit. He survived the war but returned home suffering from the after affects of gas warfare and shell shock - known today as post traumatic stress disorder. 

'War is indeed a stinking business which ... regimental stretcher-bearers ... could not fail to realise.' 

 'Stretcher-bearers' by H.A.B.White

Elizabeth 

Remembering

Lest We Forget

In Remembrance

Lest We Forget

In Remembrance

In remembrance of my great-grandfather who fought in WWI 

and 

two great-uncles who fought and died in WWII

Lest We Forget

Lest we forget

In Remembrance

Remembering all who have fought, been injured or died for our country and for us.

Elizabeth