Tweet
divdiv class=story-body readability=31 span class=story-date#13; span class=date29 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time20:42 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1Sacred soil from 70 World War One battlefields in Belgium will be laid at a memorial garden in London later./p#13; pThe soil, collected by British and Belgian schoolchildren and put into 70 sandbags, arrived on the Belgian Navy frigate Louisa Marie on Friday./p#13; pIt will go on a ceremonial procession through London before reaching its last resting place at Wellington Barracks./p#13; pThe soil will become the focal point of a garden marking the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1 in 1914./p#13; pOn arrival in London, the Louisa Marie moored alongside HMS Belfast and the soil was transferred to the British light cruiser./p#13; pWhen the ceremony starts later, the bags will be loaded onto the gun carriage of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery along with a crucible of soil from all the battlefields./p#13; pIt will be escorted by mounted members of the Household Cavalry from the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals, and mounted officers from the Metropolitan Police. /p#13; #13;#13;#13; pThe route of the procession will pass Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade, The Mall and Buckingham Palace./p#13; pIt will be blessed in a ceremony at the Guards' Chapel at Wellington Barracks - near Buckingham Palace - and placed into the ground at the Flanders Fields Memorial Garden/p#13; pThe soil will be placed at the heart of the garden where the words of John McCrae's famous poem, In Flanders' Fields, will be inscribed./p#13; pThe garden will open to the public next year. /p#13; pMore than 1,000 British and Belgian schoolchildren were involved in collecting 70 bags of soil from the battlefields this summer./p#13; pThe Guards Museum - which funded the project with help from public donations and corporate sponsors, including a contribution from the Government of Flanders - described the £700,000 project as unprecedented and historic./p#13; pMuseum curator Andrew Wallis said the garden would stand as a tangible demonstration of the bond between Britain and Belgium./p#13; pThe process of bringing the soil to the UK began on Armistice Day with a ceremony at the Menin Gate, attended by the Duke of Edinburgh. /p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center