In 2011 I ran my first adult battlefields tour in the first year of my retirement from a long career in the classroom. A random meeting at a small Adelaide hills school just a few weeks prior to departure, would introduce me to a wonderful woman Jo Kirlew, who would become one of my dearest friends. We were both doing a day of relief teaching and at recess we started chatting. The conversation came around to what we were both up to and when I told Jo about my Connecting Spirits tour, she became very emotional. She recounted the story of her grandfather Walter Kirlew who was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. I suggested that I include a visit to Walter's grave on her behalf and from that point a very special story and friendship unfolded. At Walter's grave in Fricourt a few weeks later, I read out the words that Jo wanted to share about her lost grandfather and as we always do with our Connecting Spirits commemorations, small tributes and messages were left at the grave. One card had my email address on it and this created a whole new chapter for us both.
I was contacted by a man from the UK who was also related to Walter, a relative Jo knew nothing of. Jo soon joined the next tour group and made her own pilgrimage to France. Here the story took yet another turn.
The two distant relatives met in Somerset, the home of Jo's family and a very poignant discovery was made by the two second cousins. Jo learnt from Alan that her father Joe Kirlew had been married before he married Jo's mother and there had been a little baby son born to the couple...a half brother Jo had no knowledge of. Both the mother and the newborn tragically died in childbirth and were buried in an unmarked grave in Hull cemetery. Jo visited that grave on yet another one of her tours and saw for the first time the resting place of her baby half brother she never knew. On her return home, Jo arranged for a special plaque to be made for the grave in Hull and today she will return once more to complete the circle of this special Connecting Spirits journey. On Wednesday this week we meet up with the 2017 Connecting Spirits Community tour group to share more emotional and significant moments with a new CS family. Stay tuned for our recounts as once more my friend Jo Kirlew will stand at the grave of her grandfather Walter Kirlew.
