The Last Post ceremony: cultural heritage

In June 2011, The Last Post Association received a positive answer for withholding the Last Post ceremony at Ieper on the Flemish Inventory for Immaterial Cultural Heritage.

This acknowledgment is the first step towards a possible incorporation on the well-known UNESCO World Heritage List.

The aim of the Flemish Inventory for Immaterial Cultural Heritage is to preserve the knowledge and habits of certain traditions and to enlarge their notoriety. This is also the objective of the Last Post Association: to remember the sacrifice in perpetuity and to be grateful forever.

The acknowledgment is also a tribute to the historical efforts of so many people and to all the volunteers of the Last Post Association.

Become a life member: Wayne & Margaret Reed (Perth, Australia)

Testimonial by Wayne & Margaret Reed (Australia)

Our introduction to the Last Post Association

The trail started when we were in Botswana in 2009 and by chance met Philippe De Bruyn (administrator of the Last Post Association) and his family at one of the camps.

Philippe introduced us to the LPA and the Menin Gate ceremony and we indicated that we would visit one day. Later that year we were in Europe and we arranged to visit Ieper.

Why I was motivated to become a life member of the LPA

On arrival in Ieper my wife Margaret and I visited the Museum and the Menin Gate.

We were somewhat taken aback at the magnitude of the events that had taken place in the immediate area during WW1. The number of names of deceased servicemen and women was overwhelming, including about 80,000 from Australia.

That evening we attended the ceremony and I was given the honour of presenting the Exhortation.

My wife and I found it a very moving experience.

The next day we toured some of the nearby battlefields and cemeteries.

Since that time we have often discussed our visit with family and friends and the impact of the sacrifice by so many for our freedom has remained with us.

We wanted to assist to ensure the LPA event continued into the future and decided that Life Membership was the best way we could contribute and remain connected.

We will visit again.

Published 11/08/2011

French Ambassador - 02/03/2011

The French Ambassador has attended the Last Post on 2nd March, 2011. H.E. Mrs Boccoz, French Ambassador in Belgium attended the Last Post Ceremony after having visited the "In Flanders Field Museum" and been received by Burgomaster Dehaene.

In the afternoon she visited, with representatives of the Last Post Association, the French and Allied monuments and cemeteries in the Ypres Salient.

The French Army has lost more than 80.000 soldiers in the Ypres Salient in WWI. After having supported and backed the British Army in 1914 and quite often during the whole war, French Britany and Colonial Divisions have been the target of the first Gaz Attack.

Visit of the London Scottish Regiment - 04/03/2011

A delegation of the London Scottish Regiment attended the Last Post on March, 4th, 2011.

The Regiment has strong bonds with the Last Post, having attended during many years the Ceremony, quite often with a detachment of the Bataillon and Pipe Band.

Their heroic stand in Messines, as first volunteer unit in 1914 engaged in the battle, is a world wide known event.

The London Scottish Regiment Memorial along the way Wijtschate-Messines.