Amongst those present at the short and simple ceremony were; Mrs Roman-Hamilton, Lady Clanwilliam and Mr Stevenson, Col. and Mrs Gordon, Mr and Mrs Eyre Gordon, Mrs A. T. Herdman, Mrs W. C. Carr, Mrs McCleery, the Misses Bailie, Revs.  J. R. McCleery, S. McVicker, W. T. Browne, W. Murphy, P.P., and L. McKeown, C.C., Dr. Sproule,  J.P., Mr W.H. Martin, J.P., and relatives of the dead.

Col. Hamilton, after a few introductory words, said: Where could the Women Workers’ Guild have chosen a better site to have the tablet erected than upon this ancient tower which fronts the little town, and itself bears the scars and marks of honourable warfare?  Many of you from day to day pass beneath its archway.  There are those of you who, looking up at the names, may feel a sadness at the lost of husband, brother, or son; but that feeling of sadness will be tempered by the knowledge that a man of your blood died an honourable death in defence of his country and to preserve the freedom which we now enjoy.

The members of this Guild gave their time, their leisure, and their skill to making woollen garments and comforts which would alleviate the sufferings that the men at the front had greatly to endure.  One day every week they met to settle and arrange what parcels and medical aids they could dispatch abroad.  And this occurred all through the British Isles.  When the reserves were called up, and the men volunteered in their thousands to the colours, the women took up their jobs on the farms, in the houses of business, in the banks, and munitions factories, and, most naturally, in the hospitals, both public and private.  More than that, there were many who accompanied the troops as caterers, worked in the hospitals, and drove the dispatch riders in their cars well within the zone of fire. 

The County of Down has not been behind in erecting memorials.  All through the United Kingdom you may see memorials, sometimes in churches, sometimes in chapels of various denominations, or in the great cathedrals.  If you visit the market towns you will see sometimes in the public gardens a group of men in khaki cut in stone; they may be in fighting attitude or lying wounded.  Or in some market place you may see a monolith or fountain with the names of those who went forth and did not return inscribed below it.  If you pass through the villages and hamlets you will often see upon the outskirts perhaps a white marble cross, or the angle of victory set up as a memorial.

The great events of a lifetime touch us; they are not easily forgotten.  We cannot forget the wonder, the anxiety we felt during the last days of July, 1914, as to whether we should be involved in a great European war.  If our anxiety was great, what must have been anxiety felt by the Belgians and the French, as to whether we should stand by them as allies?  This is how one of your war poets described their thoughts, their feelings, and expressions towards us, during this period, while the sands were slowly running out: