I am sure I am not alone in noticing that, in recent years, the numbers attending Armistice Day have grown year by year. For the last few years, I have been incredibly honoured to lay the Stoke-on-Trent City Council wreath at the Cenotaph in Stoke as part of the Civic ceremony. This year, due to other commitments, I was simply a member of the hundreds who attended - so many in fact that Kingsway was quickly closed off to incoming traffic. The number of wreaths has also grown, a clear indication that ‘we will remember them’ is far more than just a line spoken as part of the service. The crowds gathered on Sunday included young and old - I stood next to a mum with her two small children and accompanied by her father. Behind us stood some bikers, and in front an older lady, all together in remembering.
On Friday I had attended an event at Longton Market, observing the two minute silence and talking to local veterans about their experiences. The market traders, led by Jan from Dot’s Sweets, put on two days of activities including stalls from various organisations including the RAF, as well as a poppy net and book of rememberance. The market bell tolled at 11am, as a bugle rang out across the market hall and everyone fell silent. How many had left that hall to serve during the Great War, and never returned?
Of course, 2018 is the centenary of the end of World War One and Armistice Day 2018 was the culmination of four years of events to mark and remember that conflict. Stoke-on-Trent has played its part, as one of the venues for the Poppies: Weeping Window, and it was a huge honour to be invited to attend the National Service of Thanksgiving to Mark the Centenary of the Armistice, representing the city’s part of the poppies tour. Arriving in London, I was conscious of the huge numbers of veterans all around. During the afternoon, I walked down Whitehall to the Cenotaph, where just a few hours earlier, thousands had watched wreaths being laid. Many were still around, and there was a definite air of quiet rememberance. I later watched Prince Charles lay a wreath at the Welsh Guards memorial in Horseguards, an unexpected event I just came across, but again, joining many others in rememberance.
The rather glib comment is usually made by some about how the younger generation aren’t interested, but as the parent of school aged children who have both studied this topic this year, and from my own experiences over the weekend, I am reassured that Stoke-on-Trent and the rest of the UK will continue to remember them.