Delegation strengthens links to Ypres with recent trip
COLLABORATION BETWEEN Wexford and Ypres in Belgium was high on the agenda when a delegation from Wexford visited the area over the Easter break.
Mayor of Wexford, Cllr Jim Moore, along with fellow councillors George Lawlor and Ger Carthy, District Manager Angie Laffan, and members of the Twinning Committee, visited the town as part of a twinning visit that also took in Fleures, a location that the town is already twinned with.
Cllr Moore explained that in 2017 he had linked up with a group of delegates from Ypres who were visiting Ireland and, in particular, areas where a large number of people signed up to fight in World War I and subsequently died in Flanders. Wexford, he said, was of great interest to the group and he had remained in contact with them.
‘We pointed out that we had marked the centenary of Major Willie Redmond’s death last year - he is actaully buried just outside of Ypres. This year, we will honour the memory of John Redmond and it was with that in mind that I suggested a return visit to them in Ypres this year.’
The group was hosted by the Mayor of Ypres, Jef Verchoore and the management of the In Flanders Fields Museum, the biggest World War I museum in the world. They arrived on Good Friday and took part in a moving and poignant ceremony at a monument in Ypres town called the Menin Gate.
‘The Menin Gate is a monument, built in 1927, that marks a spot in the town that all soldiers going to the front would have passed through. Every evening, at 8 p.m., The Last Post is played there and there is a ceremony. The only time they stopped was during World War II. We attended ceremony number 30,995.’
The 20-minute ceremony takes place regardless of crowd size but Cllr Moore said that there was about 400 people, from all over Europe, at the event the night they were there. Cllr Moore laid a wreath on behalf of the people of Wexford - something which, he believes, has never been done before at the site. He was also asked to deliver a short prayer as part of the event.
‘It was a very poignant and emotional event with hundreds of people from all over.’
The group attended a reception on the Friday night and were given a tour of the museum the following day. They were also brought to the burial site of Major Willie Redmond, where Cllr Moore laid a wreath, and to the Peace Park which was part of a North-South initiative, 20 years ago, to bring together the island of Ireland and promote peace in the North.
Cllr Moore said they had seen photographic evidence of a Wexford Mayor visiting Major Redmond’s grave in 1918, but said they had no idea how he got out there in the middle of World War I!
Most promisingly, Cllr Moore said that the group from Ypres were very interested in Wexford and highlighting the connections between the two towns, which are both of similar size.
‘We are looking at further collaboration with Ypres around the subject of World War I and also in the area of Peace and Reconciliation,’ said Cllr Moore.