Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Remembrance service

May 18 2009
St Martin‘s service lists the dead - and commends the living On 10th November, the annual service was held at St Martin's, to remember those homeless who have died in the last year. This service takes place on the Thursday before Remembrance Sunday and provides the chance for friends to pay their respects at a tribute that seeks to commemorate those who have died. The idea to hold this kind of service came about 15 years ago after the head verger, hosting a memorial for a Royal Navy servicemen, remarked "how little we do in that way for the countless homeless people who spend much of their lives in and around St Martin's and then die unnoticed." As with other remembrance services held at this time of year, it was structured around the reading of the names of those who are known to have died. This year over 80 names were read out. Although the service is a time for mourning, there was also a muted sense of celebration. The service featured a moving performance from Streetwise Opera and a poem written by an ex-rough sleeper, John Sheehy, was also read out. Organiser Roger Shaljean summed it up during the service saying, "we particularly commend those who have struggled in difficult circumstances, and yet have found the strength, against the odds, to survive."
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