FERGUS – A solemn service on a gloomy day turned bright by the end as the Fergus Legion and local community gathered to honour the late Queen Elizabeth II.
On Monday morning, the day of the Queen’s funeral, legion members held their own memorial service at the Fergus Cenotaph on Tower Street.
It was an affair similar to that of a Remembrance Day ceremony, with legion members in formal dress, the colour guard, bagpipes and The Last Post playing but all for one person across an ocean.
“We offer our great gratitude for the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, for her constancy, humility and service, for her compassion, wisdom and steadfast faith,” Rev. Canon Fran Darlington of the Anglican Church said to the small group who gathered.
The service was led by current Fergus Legion president Brian Bielby who explained in an interview because of the timing the township was not able to do anything.
“The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion command gave us some guidelines if we wanted to do, how to do it,” Bielby said, noting there are a lot of legions across the province holding some sort of service today.
“She is a patron saint of the Royal Canadian Legion, so it was very meaningful for us to be able to do it.”
Bielby, originally from England, recalled the Queen’s coronation when he was five years old and the big street party held.
“My mother actually baked the cake for the street party and so we were like guests of honour if you will at the street party,” Bielby said.
He recalled whenever the Queen was going to Scotland, she would pass by the Catholic school he attended in North England.
“She’d always wave, all the kids were allowed out of school with little flags to wave at the Queen,” Bielby said.
Being from England, Darlington also had memories of seeing the Queen. She remembered her father taking her to London where she got to see the “beautiful princess” on her wedding day, pre-dating the coronation.
After MPP Ted Arnott laid a wreath at the cenotaph, attendees sang God Save The King and what was a grey and rainy day became sunny and bright.
“Couldn’t have been better,” Darlington said of the moment the sun came out.
Bielby said there will be a high tea held at the Wellington County Museum and Archives, originally planned as part of a celebration of the Queen’s diamond jubilee, on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The event has become a cross between remembrance and celebration and Bielby said the lieutenant governor of Ontario is coming to join.
