Last Sunday we went to the Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary open air Concert at Chartwell, the home of Sir Winston Churchill. We settled ourselves on the hill, just below the terrace, overlooking the beautiful lake and bandstand. The concert began with some readings and in the far distance there was the familiar hum of a Sptifire and Hurricane who were due to do a fly past...but they were beaten to it as a group of about 15 geese flew over us in perfect 'V' formation. The crowd cheered and clapped them and the geese circled round and then flew over us again and then off into the distance leaving the sky clear for the aircraft. It was a wonderful moment and I just wish I had had my camera ready.
The concert was quite moving. Most of the audience were my age and I couldn't help thinking that we were all there because our parents had been lucky enough to survive the war. When a life is lost to war (or anything) the generations that could have followed are also lost...so sad.
It is a natural thing to fight for supremacy and the good of the herd and all animals seem to do it. The difference with humans is that we involve so many innocent people in our battles, while mostly, in the animal world, it is just the leaders and leader wanabees that fight and the pack/herd will meekly follow whoever wins, so there is a lot less carnage, but I am very grateful to my parent's generation who all gave up so much for our freedom.
This coming weekend it is the Banstead (Surrey) Countryside Day so if anyone is in the area on Sunday (12th) call in...the entrance is free. It is being held next to the car park in Holly Lane from 10.30am to 4.30pm and should be good...if the weather stays dry:-)
2 comments:
What a lovel post Helen. My dad was in the R.A.F. I love those vintage planes - they're really exciting to see and hear.
Lol, that was funny about the geese flying over and getting a round of applause.... and then doing a lap of honour! :O)
Hi Lesley...my dad was also in the RAF and the concert really brought it home how young he was and how brave. He would have loved the geese fly past too.
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