Trumpeting in honour of war veterans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/11/2011 (5401 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The RM of St. Francois Xavier will be bugling in honour of Remembrance Day this year.  

Kevin Van Camp, president of the St. Francois Xavier Historical Society, said he has been trying to find a trumpeter from the area who can play The Last Post at the SFX Remembrance Day service, which has been held at the RM office every year since 2006. Until this year it has been a fruitless search.

“I’ve been trying to find a bugler for a few years now,” Van Camp said. “But you would be surprised how difficult it is to find someone willing to do this.”

Thankfully for Van Camp, his neighbour Madison Lust, 17, plays the trumpet and agreed to perform at this year’s service, which will begin at 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 11 at the municipal office.

“Turns out Madison had been playing at the Remembrance Day service at her high school for the last couple of years,” he said. “I was very pleased to find that out and happy that she agreed to perform at our service too.”

Lust, who is a Grade 12 student at St. Paul’s Collegiate in Elie, said she thinks it is important to be involved in the community where she lives.

“I know Kevin Van Camp and he asked me this year if I would play the trumpet for the service and I said yes,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to play something like (The Last Post) at a service remembering our war veterans and being involved in the community is important.”

Lust has been playing the trumpet for about five years in the St. Paul’s school jazz band.

“I’ve been playing the trumpet for quite awhile, so I guess I enjoy it,” she said.

Van Camp said Lust’s participation is evidence of how much interest in the SFX service has grown.  

“When we started this service we only had about 40 people attend, but last year we had about 175,” Van Camp said. “I expect that this service will continue to grow as the community continues to grow.”

Van Camp added that SFX chief administrative officer Robert Poirier will be speaking at the service.

Poirier, a retired air force colonel, will begin the ceremony by giving a brief overview of the Canadian navy’s contributions to the forces.

“This year the theme is the navy,” Van Camp said. “Last year was the first year that Bob agreed to do this and he focused on the air force. So this year he will be focusing on the navy and the merchant navy.”

Poirier, who lives in River Heights in Winnipeg, said he is quite honoured to be participating in the service once again.

Van Camp said organizers are grateful for the assistance provided by the municipality and the SFX Community Centre in organizing the Remembrance Day service.

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