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Outing to Botley Cemetery
In March we had a visit to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Botley in Oxford. This was led by a volunteer from the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation, Dick Richards, who last year gave a talk to the Society on the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) throughout the world, to honour the dead of war since World War I.
The cemetery at Botley is the largest of the 167 CWGC sites in Oxfordshire, and contains some740 burials, with separate sections for World War I and World War II. It features a Cross of Sacrifice, and a shelter building. (see photo). During the Second World War, Oxford (Botley) Cemetery was designated as a Royal Air Force Regional Cemetery and it now contains 461 graves of members of the different air forces who fought.
All the graves are surrounded by beautifully tended gardens, where roses bloom in profusion in the summer. Dick showed us the different areas of the cemetery, and explained how the men and a few women came to be buried in Oxford, which in World War I was the location of several large hospitals where the wounded were brought for treatment.
In March we had a visit to the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Botley in Oxford. This was led by a volunteer from the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation, Dick Richards, who last year gave a talk to the Society on the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) throughout the world, to honour the dead of war since World War I.
The cemetery at Botley is the largest of the 167 CWGC sites in Oxfordshire, and contains some740 burials, with separate sections for World War I and World War II. It features a Cross of Sacrifice, and a shelter building. (see photo). During the Second World War, Oxford (Botley) Cemetery was designated as a Royal Air Force Regional Cemetery and it now contains 461 graves of members of the different air forces who fought.
All the graves are surrounded by beautifully tended gardens, where roses bloom in profusion in the summer. Dick showed us the different areas of the cemetery, and explained how the men and a few women came to be buried in Oxford, which in World War I was the location of several large hospitals where the wounded were brought for treatment.