Dorking – St. Martin’s Church & War Memorial

2 Responses to Dorking – St. Martin’s Church & War Memorial

1. Mr. J.P.E. Kraaimaat says:

   October 6, 2015 at 1:24 pm

   Dear Sir, Madam,
   Every year I visit with my pupils ( 15 – 16 years old) Ypres in Belgium. We always go to Essex Farm Cemetery and bring as a token of our respect a litlle wooden cross to the grave of V.J.Strudwick 8th batt – Rifle Brigade, age 15. Many other pupils all over the world do so as well. Recently I discoverd he’s from Dorking, Surrey. I saw the pictures above with his name on the memorial in the church. So now you know he is not forgotten in the Netherlands; some of us know his name.
   Mr. Kraaimaat,
   Nieuwegein – The Netherlands

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   • Magicfingers says:

     October 10, 2015 at 10:25 pm

     Hello Mr Kraaimaat. I apologise for the delay in responding to your comment but I have been away for a week. Thank you very much for your comments. Although I live near Dorking I hadn’t realised that Strudwick was from there (I am of course well aware of his existence). I visited Essex Farm Cemetery myself last year and the photos will appear here on this site at some point. It might amuse you to know that, despite the slight giveaway of the plastic grass, I photographed the cemetery, the memorial, the canal, the bunkers and site of the old trench railway – everything except the grave of Valentine Strudwick!! I shall return in November to put matters to rights. Incidentally, I gather that Strudwick was born in Dorking, but lived in Croydon. I was born and bred in Croydon and lived there for the first 50 years of my life.

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