15 October 2014

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

TOWN Mayor Nick Hodges travelled to Belgium at the weekend with the East Grinstead Concert Band who played a concert in Brussels before taking part in the nightly Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres.

Nick said afterwards: “It was a fantastic weekend. We were privileged to be there representing the town, and it was one of the most memorable events of my life.”

The Menin Gate stands over the main road out of Ypres on the route taken  by hundreds of thousands of allied troops marching to the Front in WWI.

Many of them did not return, and the haunting notes of the Last Post have been played there in their memory every night since 1928, except for a period during WWII when Ypres was occupied by the Germans.

Band members thanked everyone for their “great comments and support” including East Grinstead Town Council and the town branch of the Royal British Legion.