Lots of churches - and other buildings - have Rolls of Honour to record the names of the men who died in military service during the two so-called World Wars.  A few even have names from later conflicts.  The one here in Railway Town is different in at least two ways...

Firstly, it is a list of those who were on active service, and was, so I am told, read out weekly at a prayer meeting.  The two names edged in black are, we believe, those who died.

Secondly, and so far as I am aware this is unique, it includes the names of six women who also served, at least one as a nurse and possibly others on the land. 

Yesterday at the Remembrance service, despite my careful planning, I needed a fill of about five minutes if I was to hit the 11a.m. silence correctly, so I read aloud these names... which was quite a moving thing to do, not least as there were more on the roll than present in the service.

Today I recall with gratitude Irene, who spent long hours on the Yorkshire moors listening for morse code being transmitted behind music on the radio... I recall Lilias who was a captain and lorry driver... I recall Jean, in a reserved occupation,  whose twin sister Betty was a private who served under Lilias...

And I recall with a measure of sadness Jane and Flora who pastored Baptist churches in Scotland during wartime only to be squeezed out when the men returned:

‘the pastorates of Jane Henderson and Mary Flora MacArthur [which] were shortlived in the extraordinary circumstance of war. Thereafter Scottish Baptist women faced a long struggle to achieve equality with men in the pastoral office and some doubt whether true equality has been reached’ Talbot, B (ed) A Distinctive People, Milton Keynes, Paternoster, 2014 page 74

So many names never appear on official rolls of honour, so many names written on people's hearts. We will remember them.