It's again time to share some news from St. Luke's Cemetery. November was a busy month in St. Luke's Cemetery! A number of events and services took place to honour the veterans in St. Luke's Cemetery. This newsletter includes links to pictures I wanted to share with you. I hope you enjoy seeing them! 

About 500 students from Cedar Hill Middle School walked from their school to St. Luke's on November 3rd to take part in a No Stone Left Alone ceremony to honour the 158 veterans in St. Luke's Cemetery.

Students attending were in grades 6 to 8 and the grade 8 students presented much of the ceremony acting as emcees, reading the poems, and explaining the Last Post and Reveille.

At the end of the ceremony, students placed their painted poppy rocks on the veterans' graves. It was an impactful and moving ceremony. 

Because of inclement weather, we didn't go outside for this year's Service of Remembrance. But we put the remembrance pots on the 158 veterans' graves in St. Luke's Cemetery after the service.

Youth and adults at our Fantastic Friday on November 4th assembled the remembrance pots by adding rosemary, a Canadian flag, and a poppy cross to the 158 pots filled with sand. The picture above shows the pots being prepared at Fantastic Friday.

The Service of Remembrance booklet, the leaflet from the service listing the veterans' names, and the updated veterans' list can viewed or downloaded from the link below.  If you know of other veterans, whose names should be added to our list, please reply to this e-mail and let me know.

A video of the All Saints' Day Service and Service of Remembrance is also available to view from the link below.

For those of you living in the Victoria area, this e-mail is also an invitation to the Longest Night Service at St. Luke's at 7 pm on December 18th. We know that the lead up to Christmas can be hard for many people as we struggle with life situations, because of a loss or change in our lives.

You are invited to take some time out before Christmas for this special quiet, reflective prayer service and to light a candle for hope and remembrance of a person who was special in your life.

This could be a time to honour and remember your family members or friends who reside in St. Luke's Cemetery, or other family members or friends who have passed but live on in your memories.

This e-mail list was compiled from contact information St. Luke’s Cemetery Committee has regarding descendants, family members, and friends of people buried in St. Luke’s Cemetery. Please feel free to pass along this e-mail to friends and relatives who may be interested in this information.

Newsletters and information about special events regarding the cemetery are sent out several times a year. If you do not wish to be on this list to receive these occasional updates, please reply to this e-mail and let me know and I will take you off the list.

We also encourage you to visit the Cemetery pages of St. Luke's website. Click on the Read More button below. The Cemetery section at the website includes links to a database of veterans buried in St. Luke's Cemetery, stories of the people resting in the cemetery, and a database with names and plot locations. The database of veterans and the larger cemetery database are updated throughout the year. Please let me know if you notice information, which needs adding or correcting. Keeping the database up- to-date is a ongoing, big project!

May God's blessings be with you,
and your family and friends this Christmas.

Blessings for 2023, too!

Barb Prescott
on behalf of the Cemetery Committee
of St. Luke Cedar Hill Anglican Church