Lest we forget

Regardless of peoples views on the rights or wrongs of the situation in Afghanistan. Our young people are out there and a growing number are paying the ultimate price. Many more return broken shadows of their former selves.

We need to acknowledge their sacrifice and commitment.

Wear your poppy with pride.

Visit Help for Heroes

And for those who remember on Sunday or next Wednesday you may hear part of this, some may question the sentiment,but for many it still rings true.

For the Fallen

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon September 1914



With many of my colleagues I will be attending the Royal British Legion's service of remembrance at Wakefield Cathedral on Friday evening and at the Cenotaph in Pontefract on Sunday morning and Wednesday the 11th at 11pm.