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Welcome to our March Newsletter Spring is almost upon us and daffodils are starting to replace the snow which has covered many of our cemeteries in recent months. We look forward to meeting many of you at exhibitions or while visiting our cemeteries in the forthcoming months. Please do not forget to contact us if you require any help and advice. Please note, for a pdf version of this newsletter, see RELATED LINKS> 
Burials in Fromelles On Friday 19 February, the last of 249 soldiers was buried with full honours at the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, thus bringing to a close this dignified phase of the Fromelles operation. For the Commission, the work to complete the cemetery now starts again in earnest and we will be updating you with more news and images about this in due course. The final soldier will be reburied during the official dedication of the cemetery on 19 July 2010 – the 94th anniversary of the Battle. The Commission would like to thank all of those who braved the weather to pay their respects during the reburials. In particular, a word of praise goes to the support staff and soldiers of the Australian Army, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and The Rifles, who did such a magnificent job. If you are visiting Fromelles during the next few months, you will find a small covered visitor’s area at the cemetery, where members of the public can sign the visitor’s book, find literature on the new cemetery and the wider aspects of the Fromelles project and leave floral tributes and wreaths. Information regarding the commemorative ceremony on 19th July will be available on the Commission's website and Fromelles website shortly. Please check back reguarly. Mystery of lost soldier is solved In December last year, at Cambusnethan Cemetery in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, the Commission erected a headstone to Private Dennis Doyle. Until last year it was thought he was missing, presumed dead during the Somme offensive, and was therefore listed on the Thiepval Memorial. However, it had recently been dicovered that he had been wounded in 1916 but later died in the UK following his evacuation to hospital. Last week, the family of Private Doyle visited his grave for the first time, almost a century after his death. They too had been unaware of his presence in the cemetery, until a local historian, Joe O'Raw, contacted them and the Commission. Their visit was covered in the local newspapers. 
Who Do You Think You Are Commission staff were pleased to meet many of you at the Who Do You Think You Are exhibition at Olympia, London over the weekend. We were delighted to have an opportunity to meet you and to hear your news and thoughts about the work of the Commission. It was also a pleasure to be working once again with The War Graves Photographic Project (TWGPP) on the stand, and we hope you found this useful. Charitable Events The Commission is always keen to support local charities and last month, staff at Head Office participated once again in the Maidenhead Town Centre's Annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race. This year's hotly-contested pancake race, organised by the Maidenhead Town Partnership, saw nine teams cheered on by spectators in the pouring rain. The event raised money for The Links Foundation, a local Maidenhead Charity. A video of the event can be seen on the Maidenhead Advertiser website. Although we were winners last year, we were not so lucky this year! Once again we visit countries around the world, focussing on some of the more unusual places where we have a commitment This month we focus on Iceland Responsibility for the war graves in Iceland rests with the Commission's United Kingdom Area office which is based in Leamington Spa, in the United Kingdom. Information Leaflets Don't forget..... The Commission publishes a series of free information sheets illustrating aspects of its work and major cemeteries and memorials. These can be downloaded from our website, or copies are available from Enquiries. 
Thank you to all of you who took part in the survey last month in our additional newsletter, and passed on your comments about the Commission's service standards and leaflets. We will be reviewing the comments over the next few weeks and hope to have a full response in the next newsletter. If you haven't submitted your views, there is still time to do so. Please let us have your feedback by using this link CWGC Customer Service Survey Climate Change Survey Some of you will remember that in an earlier newsletter, we covered the work of the Commission on climate change. Further information about climate change and the work of the Commission can be found on our website Once again, we would like to thank all of you who participate in our surveys. The information gathered enables us to progress and develop our methods of communication and future development.
Just a quick note about researching a casualty.
Please remember, if you find a casualty on our website WITHOUT next of kin information, the Commission does not hold this information as it was not supplied. 
We do enjoy hearing from you. This is a photograph taken by one of our readers during his visit last week to Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore, showing our gardeners hard at work! Thank you Graham. |
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March 2010 NewsletterIn this Issue
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