As Newcastle prepares for a reshaped Remembrance Day service this year in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions, a group of veterans and the Anglican Dean of Newcastle are ensuring the city's war widows are never forgotten.
The City of Newcastle RSL Sub-Branch members are teaming with the Very Reverend Katherine Bowyer, along with widows of World War Two servicemen, to refurbish a small area at Christ Church Cathedral on The Hill.
The grassed area on the cathedral's southern side is known as the Field of Remembrance. Here, each Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, some of the city's war widows hold a ceremony to honour lost loved ones.
During the Anzac Day ceremony, small crosses are pressed into the earth. The crosses are later burnt, and the ashes are scattered on the "field" during a service on Remembrance Day.
The Very Reverend Katherine Bowyer described this area of the cathedral as "a place of reflection", and she indicated it helped serve as a reminder that the impact of war reverberated far beyond the battlefield.
"The home front was such an important part of the [war] story," she said.
To help tell the story of those who were left behind at home, and to refresh the place of reflection, the RSL sub-branch is having two bench seats made.
Ken Fayle, the president of the City of Newcastle RSL Sub-Branch, said one seat would be inscribed with the words, "Remember Them", and on the other, "Lest We Forget".
A cross shaped from stone blocks and embedded in the ground would be restored, and the lawn would be relaid.
"There are a number of us whose grandmothers and mothers were war widows," said Mr Fayle.
"These women suffered as badly as the men did; many never remarried, and they kept the memory of their husbands alive."
Others, who lost their returned serviceman husbands after the war, visit the cathedral to remember their loved ones.
Enid Pugh's World War Two veteran husband, Robert, died in 1999. He had served in the Australian army, including guarding Japanese prisoners of war at Cowra.
Enid and Robert Pugh met in 1954 at the Westminster Hotel in Hunter Street, where Enid was working as a waitress, and were married the following year. They were married for 44 years.
"We even had our photo picked out for our 50th wedding anniversary, but we didn't get to use it," said 88-year-old Mrs Pugh, as she sat outside the cathedral.
Enid Pugh helps organise the war widows' Anzac Day and Remebrance Day services, and she is appreciative there is an area she can visit to honour her husband.
"You can go there, and you can remember him," Mrs Pugh said. "It seems as though it partly belongs to us, that little section."
She believes her husband would be proud to know the Field of Remembrance was being refreshed.
"Proud, because it's something we've worked for, to make it happen," Mrs Pugh said.
The Newcastle club of the War Widows' Guild was formed after World War Two, in 1951, helping out hundreds of women in the region.
While the club no longer existed, surviving former members still met, providing, as Mrs Pugh explained, "friendship and companionship".
And they offered support to other women, as wars continued to exact a terrible toll.
Peter Green, the City of Newcastle RSL Sub-Branch's vice president who recently retired from the army after 33 years' service, said he had friends who were widows "through recent conflicts".
"The war widows of previous generations have reached out to these women," said Peter Green, who is helping spearhead the Field of Remembrance project at the cathedral.
"It's a great honour to be able to make things better, having been here for some of their services."
The refurbished Field of Remembrance is expected to be ready by Anzac Day.
There will be no service on the Field of Remembrance this November 11, just as there was no ceremony on Anzac Day, due to the COVID-19-related lockdown.
However, the war widows' loved ones, and all servicemen and women, will be remembered and honoured at an adapted service in the city on Wednesday.
The City of Newcastle RSL Sub-Branch has been planning the Remembrance Day service, to be held at the cenotaph in Civic Park. The ceremony begins at 11am.
The sub-branch's Ken Fayle said there would be a fenced-off area for officials, and elements of the service had been changed, due to COVID restrictions. While there would be a piper and bugler, for instance, no band would be involved this year.
A formation fly-past of RAAF aircraft would be staged at two minutes past 11, Mr Fayle said.
The public was welcome to attend the service, Ken Fayle said, as long as people observed COVID protocols.
Mr Fayle said despite the changes to the format, this year's Remembrance Day service was as important as ever, particularly after COVID restrictions had forced the cancellation of Anzac Day services.
"Some members of the public are looking for somewhere to go and pay their respects," Mr Fayle said.
"The other important thing is you can't let this sort of thing stop your way of life.
"We have to move forward to keep life as normal as possible."
