WILL YOU PLEASE ENDEAVOUR TO OBTAIN
AT LEAST TWO NEW MEMBERS BY MEANS
OF THE APPLICATION FORMS ENCLOSED?
The Ypres Times.
29
to them, and sympathy for the legacy of suffering
imposed by a common experience, should unite
us all in the endeavour to use for universal good
the opportunities our position affords us.
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be.
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering.
In the faith that looks through death."
A DOUBLE DISASTER.
The old proverb Misfortunes never come
singly was strikingly illustrated at League H.Q.
at the end of October. First we had a fire at our
old offices, ioo, Eaton Place. It was confined
to the upper storeys of the building which we
did not occupy, but nevertheless a good deal of
damage was done to our belongings, mainly by
water. Two firemen were injured by the collapse
of a staircase, but not before they had taken some
of our most valuable property to a place of safety.
They had to go to hospital, but were well on the
way to recovery when we last enquired. This
misfortune, however, brought some blessings in
its train. We were well insured and found the
cash value of some of our goods preferable to the
things themselves. Then we had to remove to
some very central temporary offices in the building
that used to be occupied by the London County
Council at 19, Charing Cross Road, quite close to
Trafalgar Square. We hope, however, that the
Duke of Westminster will continue his kindness
and lend us another of his houses in the near
future. Lastly the fire furnished the staff with
a glorious excuse for any mistakes that it made,
or letters that it didn't answer! This disaster then
was quite a minor one.
The other DISASTER, however, was not so.
Colonel Brierley has had to resign the secretary
ship. The War Office had tried to do without
him, but evidently found that they could not,
so they have called him back to them. We con
gratulate him most heartily, but we feel very very7
sorry for ourselves. Your new secretary is at
times overwhelmed by the size of the mantle that
has fallen upon him, and he could not sustain it
but for the atmosphere of good-will that Colonel
Brierley succeeded in irradiating all around, and
he begs the indulgence of the house for this,
his first performance in an unrehearsed part.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
In another column will be found Colonel
Brierley's farewell letter to the corresponding
members. This new organisation, brought about
by the incorporation of the League, is yet in its
infancy. We no longer have branches as part of
our constitution. In theory all members hold
directly from Headquarters. It is hoped, how
ever, that corresponding members will form a
centre, each in his locality, at which social enter
tainments, mutual help, and recruiting, can be
organised. We would especially emphasise the
recruiting, for on that the other activities depend.
Our membership is large, but it should be far
larger, and it must be increased if we are to carry
out in full our programme of commemoration in
the Salient and elsewhere. We hope to publish
a list of Corresponding Members in our next
issue.
VOLUNTARY WORKERS IN LONDON.
May we appeal to any of our London members
who have both the pen of a ready writer and a
certain amount of spare time in the months of
March, June, September and December (the
months before the appearance of the Ypres
Times) to help in the addressing of newspaper
wrappers This can be done either at home or
in the offices of the League, and will be a great
help, not only to the office staff, but also to the
finances of the League.
TABLET OF MEMORY.
On the second page of the cover will be found a
series of dates recording events in and near the
Salient in January, February and March. It is a
mere skeleton. What we aim at is to fix for each
day of the year some events in defence of Ypres.
The dates given in this issue are extracted with
much difficulty from various records, but we hope
members will send in notes which will enable us
to assign many events to regiments and battalions.
Many of these can only be very local events like
a raid, or a particularly fierce "strafe" on one
particular battalion, but these are, after all, the
sort of events that have a personal interest. In
next issue we shall print a memory tablet for
April, May and June, and we hope that readers
who remember any incidents which fell in these
months will send us a note of them so that they
can be included in the list and make of it a real
memory tablet of happenings which, however
insignificant to the official historian, are of vast
interest to the men to whom they happened.
B. S. BROWNE.
