Those who knew them, loved them

They were all members of St James's Young Men's Bible Class, ten lads from Bermondsey, who gave their lives in the First World War.

Today, a hundred years after the outbreak of the war, we remembered Robert, George, Stanley, Leonard, Owen, Harry, George, Thomas, Thomas and Herbert whose names are inscribed on the brass memorial plaque in the narthex dedicated to the Young Men's Bible Class.

Under their names is the beautifully simple but moving epitaph: 'those who knew them loved them.'

It was good to remember them today.

At the end of the service we laid a wreath at this memorial - as we did at the Boer War Memorial - and fittingly, it was laid by John (above), a member of the current men's bible study group.

Prior to that a small group of us gathered at the War Memorial in Old Jamaica Road which has recently been put back in place, having been temporarilly dismantled pending construction around it.

Next year the Bishop will come to rededicate the memorial when all the building work is complete; in the meantime our simple act of remembrance took place today in the presence of our MP, councillors, and local residents: