Remembrance Day is important to us all. Every year people wear their poppies with pride and take time out of their busy day to honour those who lost their lives fighting for our freedoms.
To my generation this day is especially poignant. We have first-hand memories of a country at war, we have lived experiences of losing loved ones and watching the devastation that war brings. For many of us, our childhoods were full of air raids and rationing, some of us spent much of our childhood away from our families, sent off to live with strangers in the hopes of keeping us safe.
To my generation Remembrance Day is a stark reminder of darker days and wartime spirit and an acknowledgement from younger generations that our sacrifices were not in vain.
To mark the day this year we worked together to create a display of bright red poppies. We cut and we painted, we glued, and we laminated for hours, we drank copious amounts of tea, ate far too much cake, we reminisced about our wartime experiences, and we sang wartime classics. It meant so much to all of us.
We were so lucky with the weather as we ventured outside to arrange our display. We were so proud of our achievements, it looked stunning, illuminated by the autumn sun.
On Sunday we gathered to remember, we fell silent at 11am to honour those lost and to reflect on our experiences. The silence was broken with heartfelt readings from Faye and Sheila and followed by a wonderful performance by Sarah Bright who sang all our old favourites beautifully.
Remembrance Day is an emotive mix of grief for those lost, of celebration of their accomplishments and of hope that no generation will have to experience the things that we went through and for us to be able to spend it together is very special indeed.