Village vigil for peace as gunfire comes to a halt

By Western Daily Press | Monday, January 02, 2012, 09:00

wdnews@bepp.co.uk

Archivist James Kirkwood lights candles in St Giles'. Below, training buildings PICTURES: CLARE GREEN

A lost village forcibly emptied of its population to aid D-Day training has been enjoying a friendly invasion.

Three times a year former inhabitants of Imber, on Salisbury Plain, are allowed to return to the village which has been the scene of military exercises for the last 68 years.

Others who appreciate the villagers' sacrifice join the pilgrimages, and for the last ten years an Inter Faith Peace Vigil has been held on New Year's Eve in the village church of St Giles.

Candles are lit in the building and people of all faiths and none join together to read poetry and play music on the theme of peace.

It is hard to believe, walking the silent streets, that earlier last month a live-fire weapons effect exercise was taking place on Imber Ranges using the full range of weapons deployed in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence allowed roads through Imber from Gore Cross, Warminster, Bratton and Heytesbury to open on December 17. They will close again at 8am tomorrow.

The hundreds who will have visited Imber by the time the exclusion zone is reinstated will have had the chance to enjoy not only the poignant sight of its pewless church and beerless pub but the vast Site of Special Scientific Interest which covers 20,000 hectares of Salisbury Plain.

Ironically, its species-rich chalk grasslands are protected by the restricted public access imposed by the Ministry of Defence.

Visitors pass archaeological sites dating back to 4000 BC. Roe deer are common in the area and often seen by visitors, and ten per cent of the UK population of rare ground-nesting stone curlew share the land with the might of the military.

Among those who make the pilgrimage is Ruth Underwood, whose late father, Austin, led a famous peace march to "reclaim" the village in January 1961.

Thousands of supporters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament walked or drove with him across Salisbury Plain, in defiance of MoD orders, and watched him nail a 'notice to quit' sign onto a building.

Miss Underwood was there too, aged just three, and still hopes that one day people will inhabit the village again.

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Comments

Derryhawk, without such sacrifices it would be called Imburg now. It should have been returned after the war though.

By joning at 13:36 on 04/01/12
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At the time of evacuation villagers were told they could return in 6 months. But they're still waiting.

By philistyn at 13:14 on 04/01/12
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Sadly the people of Imber did not make a voluntary sacrifice in the interests of some patriotic feelings...No, they were given their marching orders, despite not wanting to leave; so Imber, still in military hands so many years later, is a timely reminder, that all the 'rights', that democracy is based on, can be taken away when it suits the ruling Government....Had this happened in a left wing nation, or a right wing dictatorship, the British press would have pointed the finger, and hailed the rights enjoyed in a democratic nation. We enjoy those rights, but should not fail to notice their erosion tiny step, by tiny step; nor forget the lesson of Imber.

By derryhawk at 17:43 on 02/01/12
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