WEE FORUM - The Blitz - St Anne's Church Thanksgiving Service, Sunday (September 26) - Father David Gilmore says "This is a time to remember, not a time to apportion blame"

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Published: 24 September 2010

SEVENTY years ago, on September 24 1940, St Anne’s Church and the people of Soho experienced the reality of war at first hand. 

The world had been at war  for just over a year and a new stage had begun as civilians and towns became targets. 

But it is so easy when we think of the Blitz to think only of the civilians who died in the United Kingdom and to fail to remember the innocent who were caught up in so many countries – including Germany – at this dark point in the history of the world. 

We can’t imagine how the worshippers or my predecessor felt on the following Sunday as they came to church – maybe disappointment and hurt, anger, bitterness or a determination to rebuild.

 But another air raid was to cause further damage and the great Wren church lay in ruins and was eventually to be pulled down. 

It was a sad day for Soho and yet while the building was destroyed, the church remained as the Church: the people of God. 

As Jesus tells his disciples: “I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.”

While we will remember the bombing of St Anne’s at this Sunday’s service, this is not about apportioning blame. 

Rather, it is a service where we, as the people of this area, remember the pain of war and resolve to strive to be people of peace. 

We give thanks for all that St Anne’s was, from its original dedication and all that it has been up until this present day.

And as a church that has known the pain of war we will pray for the peace of the world and seek to ensure  that the world we hand on 

to our children will be a place of peace rather than of hatred. 

We as a congregation have the symbol of reconciliation ever before us as we look to the cross and candlesticks cast by the German sculptor, Tomas Duttenhoefer – permanent features of our rebuilt church that were installed 20 years ago to commemorate the bombing.

• All are welcome at the Thanksgiving Service on Sunday (September 26) at St Anne’s Church, 55 Dean Street, W1. Those attending are asked to be seated by 10.45am. The service will be attended by The Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor of West­minster, Councillor Judith Warner, together with His Excellency The German Ambassador to the Court of St James’s, George Boomgaarden.