Tag: Remembrance

On Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day, the local community will fall silent to honour the servicemen and women who risked their lives in conflicts around the world for our freedom.

This period of Remembrance is particularly poignant and significant for our Hospice volunteer Rhoda Hendry, whose uncle Jack died in the Second World War.

For the third successive year, Rhoda has created a special Remembrance-themed display in the window of the bric-a-brac room at our Purchase and Donate (PAD) shop in Stalybridge to commemorate the occasion.

“I was born in 1937, two years before the Second World War started, so I spent many a night in an air raid shelter,” Rhoda recalled.

“My father’s youngest brother was 21 years old when he was killed in Belgium. He’s buried in Leopoldville, which we went to see as a family and it’s a magnificent place. Jack’s name is also etched on the Cenotaph in Ashton.

“Remembrance does mean a lot to me because they gave their tomorrow for our today. It’s important to reflect and remember every year.

“People don’t realise what those men and women sacrificed. It’s unbelievable to think what they must have gone through because they didn’t have the equipment in the early parts of the war that we have nowadays.”

Rhoda – who has siblings who also give the gift of their time to the Hospice – will be paying her own respects on Remembrance Sunday at the ceremony held in Stalybridge.

She takes pride in what’s on view in the window at The PAD, recently creating a spook-tacular Halloween display and will soon be putting together a festive-themed one.

“I have never had any tuition in dressing windows but I have worked in shops before during my career,” Rhoda explained.

“People walk past and look at it or come in the shop and say nice comments about the window displays. If you can’t do something with 110 per cent of effort, don’t do it at all, is my motto.”

The 87-year-old spent around an hour on her Remembrance window – she made the poppy wreath herself and her daughter contributed the soldier silhouettes.

The framed photograph and story of how a Stalybridge resident gave up their home during the war to become a hospital for injured soldiers to recuperate was donated by Peter from Providence Furniture in Hyde, who is a supporter of the Hospice and has a keen interest in the Royal British Legion.

Rhoda, who lives in Dukinfield, has been volunteering for Willow Wood since 2006 – which is her way of giving back after her husband received end-of-life care at the Hospice.

“John died at Willow Wood in 2001 and I will never be able to repay the staff for what they did for him,” she said.

“I stayed at home for five years and then I thought I have to do something. I started at the Grosvenor Street shop in Stalybridge and have never looked back really.

“I now help out for three days a week at The PAD and I love it. I take great joy when I go home at the end of the day in seeing how much money we have raised for the Hospice.

“My sister Patricia and my brother Terence also volunteer for the Hospice too. Patricia helps to clean the bric-a-brac room at the PAD.”