On 14th November wreath laying ceremonies took place across the Island. In the Parish of Malew a service was held in the Abbey Church at 10am and this was followed by a procession to the parish war memorial alongside the bridge over the Silverburn River. The Vicar of Malew was ill and so the service at both the church and the war memorial was taken by Ellen Halliwell, a licensed reader in the Church of England. At the war memorial about a dozen wreaths were laid (church, school, scouts, guides and other local organisations) and of course by the Captain of the Parish. It was just prior to the end of the Great War (1914-18) that the then Lieutenant Governor called the Captains of the Parish together along with the Mayor of Douglas and the Chairman of Ramsey, Peel and Castletown Commissioners and he charged them with the responsibility to raise funds and have a war memorial erected in their district. Although most of the war memorials are now in the care of the local authority, the Captain of the Parish still has an important role and his should be the first wreath to be laid as representing the parish. During both world wars the Captains had the role of encouraging young men to enlist (rather like calling out the militia of old) and also often arranged fundraising events to pay for comforts for the local men serving in the services during the wars. Here Captain of the Parish of Malew, Roy Gelling pays his respect having laid his wreath. Nonagenarian Roy has been Captain of the Parish for 25 years having been appointed in 1996 in succession to Mrs Marion Taggart.
