10 Group Exeter at The Higher Cemetery, Exeter - 11th November 2025
On 11 November 2025 members of 10 Group Exeter Branch attended the annual Remembrance Service at The Higher Cemetery, Exeter. The 10 Group ROCA Standard was present and was carried by Paul Hingston. The ROCA wreath was laid by former W/Obs Judith Davey, on behalf of 10 Group ROCA and the Exeter Branch. Judith is a member of the Exeter Branch but lives in Sidmouth, Devon which is in 9 Group ROCA area.
After the Service, Dave Flower Exeter Branch Chairman, sent to Lawrence Holmes, editor of 10 Group News, three photos and a short report. Lawrence thanked Dave and commented on the photo of Judith thus :-
“What a nice photo of Judith with the ROCA Wreath. I see a lot of ROCA people ‘on parade and laying wreaths’,... and Judith looked so smart and neat, the perfect wreath layer. You can pass my comments on to her if you like ?”.
On 13/11/2025 Lawrence received this reply :-
“Dear Lawrence
David Flower kindly passed on your email for me to see. I just wanted to thank you for the compliment you gave me on my dress code to lay the ROCA wreath last Tuesday at the Exeter War Graves. I felt very honoured and privileged to be asked to represent us all especially as it is our Centenary Year and the 80th VJ Day commemorations.
As a retired funeral director I have always tried to do all my families proud, and wear my uniform with the respect the families deserved. So I carried that forward to my honour last Tuesday representing the ROCA, which I was very proud to do.
With kind regards
Judith Davey"
Submitted by Lawrence Holmes, 10 Group Editor
After the Service, Dave Flower Exeter Branch Chairman, sent to Lawrence Holmes, editor of 10 Group News, three photos and a short report. Lawrence thanked Dave and commented on the photo of Judith thus :-
“What a nice photo of Judith with the ROCA Wreath. I see a lot of ROCA people ‘on parade and laying wreaths’,... and Judith looked so smart and neat, the perfect wreath layer. You can pass my comments on to her if you like ?”.
On 13/11/2025 Lawrence received this reply :-
“Dear Lawrence
David Flower kindly passed on your email for me to see. I just wanted to thank you for the compliment you gave me on my dress code to lay the ROCA wreath last Tuesday at the Exeter War Graves. I felt very honoured and privileged to be asked to represent us all especially as it is our Centenary Year and the 80th VJ Day commemorations.
As a retired funeral director I have always tried to do all my families proud, and wear my uniform with the respect the families deserved. So I carried that forward to my honour last Tuesday representing the ROCA, which I was very proud to do.
With kind regards
Judith Davey"
Submitted by Lawrence Holmes, 10 Group Editor
Field of Remembrance 2025 - Westminster Abbey
On Thursday, 6 November, Her Majesty The Queen opened the 97th annual Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey, an event organised by the Poppy Factory, for whom she has served as patron for 12 years. Wearing the uniform of her appointment as Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth’s Own), The Queen also chose a particularly meaningful brooch: the Royal Lancers badge, once worn by the late Queen Elizabeth II and deeply symbolic of her own family history. Her father, Major Bruce Shand, served with the regiment during the Second World War, becoming a highly decorated officer and earning two Military Crosses.
Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel Jarvis, President of the Poppy Factory, invited The Queen to lay a cross of remembrance before two wooden crosses taken from the graves of Unknown British Soldiers of the First and Second World Wars. The Last Post was sounded from the parapet of St Margaret’s Church by a Scots Guards bandsman, after which Rear Admiral Jarvis delivered the Exhortation to Remembrance, drawing on Laurence Binyon’s 'For the Fallen'.
Following the two minutes’ silence, Her Majesty toured the Field – comprising 229 plots – meeting veterans, military representatives and members of the public who had planted personal tributes to fallen comrades and loved ones. Representing
ROCA were members Andrew Môn Hughes (17 Group) and his wife, Judy Farrar.
On the War Widows plot adjacent to the ROCA section was Betty Brown – the 92-year-old former sub-postmistress who had been in the news that week after receiving her long-awaited settlement in the Post Office scandal.
Report from Andrew Hughes
Click image for full size
Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel Jarvis, President of the Poppy Factory, invited The Queen to lay a cross of remembrance before two wooden crosses taken from the graves of Unknown British Soldiers of the First and Second World Wars. The Last Post was sounded from the parapet of St Margaret’s Church by a Scots Guards bandsman, after which Rear Admiral Jarvis delivered the Exhortation to Remembrance, drawing on Laurence Binyon’s 'For the Fallen'.
Following the two minutes’ silence, Her Majesty toured the Field – comprising 229 plots – meeting veterans, military representatives and members of the public who had planted personal tributes to fallen comrades and loved ones. Representing
ROCA were members Andrew Môn Hughes (17 Group) and his wife, Judy Farrar.
On the War Widows plot adjacent to the ROCA section was Betty Brown – the 92-year-old former sub-postmistress who had been in the news that week after receiving her long-awaited settlement in the Post Office scandal.
Report from Andrew Hughes
Click image for full size
Marchpast at the Cenotaph - The National Service of Remembrance
Our members started assembling on Horse Guards Parade from about 0830 hrs having first gone through ID and ticket checking. As we did not start assembling on Whitehall until about 1030 hrs, this gave ample opportunity to chat and catch up with old friends.
Once on Whitehall, we were fairly close to the Cenotaph and within view of a very large TV screen so we could see what was happening at the Cenotaph during the National Service of Remembrance.
At the appointed time, we stepped off and paid our respects at the Cenotaph with our Chairman handing over our wreath to be placed at the Memorial. As we continued round onto Horse Guards Road, the salute was taken by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh with it being pointed out to him, that we were the Royal Observer Corps.
Click on images for full size
Once on Whitehall, we were fairly close to the Cenotaph and within view of a very large TV screen so we could see what was happening at the Cenotaph during the National Service of Remembrance.
At the appointed time, we stepped off and paid our respects at the Cenotaph with our Chairman handing over our wreath to be placed at the Memorial. As we continued round onto Horse Guards Road, the salute was taken by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh with it being pointed out to him, that we were the Royal Observer Corps.
Click on images for full size
