A CAROL concert is being held on Saturday, December 9 at St Mary’s Church, Cusop. There is music from 1.45pm onwards, and the concert itself commences at 2pm.
Admission is free but donations are requested and all funds raised from the event will form a donation to the Allan Leonard Lewis VC Memorial Fund.
Allan Leonard Lewis VC was born at Whitney-on-Wye in 1895. He is the only Victoria Cross holder to have been born in Herefordshire. In the final stages of the First World War Lance Corporal Lewis showed exemplary courage, taking part in the final push to break the Hindenburg Line.
He was killed on September 21 1918 just a matter of weeks before the armistice. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on two war memorials located respectively in the areas of his birth and where he spent much of his life.
The A L Lewis VC Memorial Find is now working with Herefordshire County Council to commission a life-sized bronze statue to stand in Hereford city centre.
The full programme for the service is: 1.45 Band plays Christmas music; 2pm Welcome and Prayers – Reverend Jane Rogers; carol; Reverend Ian Charlesworth – Christmas in the Trenches; carol; Helen Furnell – ‘In Flanders Fields’ by Lt Col John McCrae; carol; Bridget Boyd – ‘My Boy Jack’ by Rudyard Kipling; St Andrew’s Singers – ‘Stille Nacht’; St Andrew’s Singers – tba; band – tba; David Webb – Allan Leonard Lewis; carol; Capt. Lyndon Davies – VC citation for Allan Leonard Lewis; carol; Dawn Lewis – The Allan Leonard Lewis VC Memorial Fund; Solo – Capt. Lyndon Davies – ‘White Christmas’; carol; Closing Prayers – Reverend Jane Rogers; band plays outgoing music.
Gareth Pugh, Allan Leonard Lewis VC Memorial Appeal Secretary, said: “This is a concert in celebration not only of the spirit of Christmas but of a local man who, almost one hundred years ago, was awarded the highest military award for selflessly giving his life in the service of his country. We welcome all in remembering both.”