On
the southern edge of the Peace Park at Messines Ridge
south of Ypres [Ieper] stands a Celtic Cross on a rock
formation of a ring or fairy fort of ancient Ireland.
This
Cross originated in Bandon, commissioned by Barry Ellis
and David Sheehan, dedicated committee members, sponsored
by local building contractor and undertaker Stanley
Bolster and crafted by Damien O'Brien. Attached to the
centre and top of it are two brass plates. Inscribed on
top "Presented by Bandon War Memorial
Committee" and on the
centre, a verse of a poem by a Bandon soldier Cpl. F.
Buckley written at the battlefront before he died.
During the August 1998 tour to Flanders this
beautiful mahogany cross was presented by then Chairman
of Bandon War Memorial Committee Andrew Coleman to Tony
Crowe a trustee of the Peace Park project.
(Click
here for printable version)
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