Lest we forget

On this day of 93 years ago the war to end all wars came to an end. Since then in almost every year our armed forces have been serving to protect our society. Our young people serve around the world and especially in Afghanistan where a growing number are paying the ultimate price with their lives. Many more return broken shadows of their former selves.

It is right to acknowledge their sacrifice and commitment.

Wear your poppy with pride.

Visit Help for Heroes

And for those who remember on Sunday 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



Like many I will be attending the Concert with Music for Armistice day at St Giles in Pontefract this evening and at the Cenotaph in Pontefract on Sunday morning and as a guest at the Barracks on Sunday afternoon.

There will also be a ceremonial signing of a covenant between Wakefield and the Yorkshire Regiment at Wakefield Town Hall on Sunday after the ceremony at the Cenotaph outside County Hall.