A new bench is now sitting at the Evergreen Cemetery.
It’s to honour soldiers who died in war.
The bench was donated by the Arbor Garden Centre & Nursery. Sarah and Martha with the Garden Centre are happy to donate the bench.
Several of Milton’s Legion branch members were on-hand for the presentation on Sunday, including James Hunter. He says he was going around town in the spring asking businesses if they wanted to help spruce up the Legion branch. When he stopped in at Arbor Garden Centre, they surprised him with a bench from their backyard.
Hunter says it was a decent process to get the bench from the Garden Centre to Evergreen. Partially because it requires two people to lift it, but also because it needed to be cleaned up a bit. He says he wiped it down with some chemicals and soda. The Legion then decided it’d be a good idea to paint the bench.
Now, it’s adorned with a quote from John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’. It reads “In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow… Between the crosses, row on row… Lest We Forget.”
Hunter adds that Sunday’s presentation kicks off Poppy Day (more formally referred to as Remembrance Day). He says it’s unfortunate that the Legion can’t sell poppies like they could in the past, but they are hoping to reach out to local businesses to help raise funds this year. If you can, spare some funds and donate to Milton’s Legion branch. It’s located in downtown Milton, at 21 Charles Street. You can call them at 905-878-9005.
Evergreen Cemetery is located at 230 Ontario Street South, just across from E.C. Drury.
Remembrance Day may be a little different this year, due to COVID-19. Make sure to spend some time to honour those that gave their life for our freedoms.
