Each year on Remembrance Day, the country honours those who lost their lives in conflict, an occasion which marks the Armistice of the First World War which took place almost 100 years ago at 11 am on the 11th November 1918 and is better known as Poppy Day, a potent reminder of those who left home to fight for their country.

The tradition of remembering began in the years that followed when towns and villages across the land erected permanent monuments and it is here that communities gather to pay homage to those who did not return after four years of fighting.

The first such memorial in Bourne was an extension to the Butterfield Hospital in North Road erected in 1921, followed by a Roll of Honour in the nave of the Abbey Church. One veteran, Richard Pattison (1879-1959), who survived his service with the Royal Flying Corps, was a talented musician and conductor of Bourne Town Band, and for many years sounded the last post on his bugle from the market place to mark each Remembrance Day.

But soon there was a demand for a permanent place to hold this annual observance and the opportunity came when Bourne United Charities bought land off South Street from the Marquess of Exeter and created the Wellhead Gardens with sufficient space for a stone monument in landscaped surroundings which we know today as the War Memorial Gardens.

The design of the monument was based on the cenotaph in Whitehall, London, the work of the architects W E Norman Webster and Son, and was unveiled and dedicated on Sunday 16th September 1956 during a service attended by relatives and friends of those named on the memorial while the band of the 4th/6th Battalion of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment (TA) provided the music as wreaths were placed by civic leaders before the sounding of Retreat.

Bourne United Charities, who still maintain the War Memorial Gardens, have introduced several enhancements to the monument over the years, notably in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War when a veteran’s walk was added alongside the main path between the cenotaph and South Street where memorial stones and accompanying wooden crosses have been added, eleven on either side, each inscribed with the crest of the regiment or arm of service to which those who gave their lives belonged.

In addition, a memorial paving stone provided by Department for Communities and Local Government was laid on the steps of the cenotaph in 2014 to mark the award of the Victoria Cross to local hero Charles Sharpe while serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment during the Battle of Aubers Ridge in France in May 1915. The medal is Britain's highest military decoration for gallantry in the field and he was among the 633 members of the armed services who were so honoured.

It is not known exactly how many from Bourne went to war but with a population of 4,343 at that time (1911 census) it is estimated that the figure was around 250. When the War Memorial was erected sixty years ago, a public appeal produced the names of 97 men who died in action and all were inscribed on the cenotaph.

There were originally two plaques containing these names, one on the south side listing those who lost their lives in the First World War of 1914-18 and another on the north side containing the names of those who died in the Second World War of 1939-45 and subsequent conflicts in other parts of the world. But recent research by military historian Tony Stubbs has produced the names of a further 37 servicemen and these have now also been recorded on two slate tablets which have been added on the south side.

Each name inscribed here tells a similar story, one of service to King and country, of comradeship in battle and often of bravery, but all echo that final loss and bereavement for wives and sweethearts, families and friends.

One name in particular reminds us of this anguish both on the battlefield and here at home. When the war ended in November 1918, many grieving parents refused to believe that missing sons were dead and continued seeking information about them through public notices in the local newspapers. One such appeal appeared on Friday 24th January 1919: “Private George Hare, No 140820, of the A Company, 34th Machine Gun Company, was taken prisoner on 10th April 1918. Nothing has been heard of him since July 25th last. If anyone can give any information it will be gladly welcomed by his parents at 26, Hereward-street, Bourne.” Despite a long wait, there was no news and so the name of G Hare appears on the War Memorial to mark his death in action.

The first casualty of the Great War from Bourne was Sgt Arthur Bates who was serving with the 1st Battalion, the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was an old soldier who had served in the Boer War but was sent to France with his battalion in August 1914 only to be killed in action a week later. He was 33 years old and is buried at the Frameries Communal Cemetery in Belgium but his name is also inscribed on the War Memorial.

One name which appears twice on the monument has a particular poignancy. Private William Michelson, aged 35, of the Lincolnshire Regiment, was blown up by a shell and killed at the Battle of Ypres on 7th October 1917, while Sapper Clarence Michelson, Royal Engineers, was drowned during an exercise off the Norfolk coast on 9th November 1944, aged 29, and so successive wars claimed both father and son.

All will be in our thoughts this Remembrance Sunday which is now held on the second Sunday in November when communities across the land gather as a tribute to those who made the supreme sacrifice and here in Bourne, the War Memorial in South Street will be the central point for the ceremony this weekend, as envisaged by the war poet Laurence Binyon:

“At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”