A rose marking the Centenary of Talbot House, the First World War British soldiers’ club in Flanders, has been presented to the Lord Mayor of London.
The rose was carried in procession through the narrow streets of the City from All Hallows by the Tower, the church where Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton, co-founder of ‘Toc H’, served as vicar for 40 years after the Great War.
In a ceremony dating from the Middle Ages, a rose is presented annually at the Lord Mayor’s official residence, the Mansion House.
The plant for the 2015 ceremony on June 11th was supplied by Talbot House, founded by Tubby Clayton and his fellow army chaplain Neville Talbot in December 1915 to provide home comforts for British troops on leave in the Belgian town of Poperinge.
The poppy-like Talbot House Rose recalls the beauty of the Toc H garden, created as a place to forget the mud of the Ypres salient trenches.
“The garden is fringed with budding roses and flowering lilacs, while behind them great chestnuts and beeches in their early glory provide a perfect minstrels’ gallery for the birds,” wrote Clayton in 1917.
On June 27th, the rose will be officially inaugurated at the former ‘Every Man’s Club’ in Poperinge which continues to serve today as a museum, education centre and a place to stay.
Discover more about Talbot House in Centenary News here.
Source: Flanders House
© Images courtesy of Mary Barber
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News