Rev David Warner column: Salute to the fallen

The season of Remembrance is one of the most poignant of the year. 

With Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day we have an opportunity to keep silence for two minutes, wherever we are, and to remember. 

Silence is more than the absence of sound - it is deafening, as all those we recall and give thanks for join with us in remembering and making real again the memory of those who shall ‘grow not old’.

This year our remembering can call to mind the struggles of a previous generation, and inspire us in the fight that our generation is facing - the circumstances are hugely different of course, but the concern and anxiety caused by not quite knowing what the future holds for all of us is just the same. 

Though the public ceremonies are going to be different this year, they will be nonetheless heartfelt. You can wear a poppy, display them in your windows, and you’re encouraged to stand on your doorstep and remember at 11am, and make your salute to the fallen there. 

As a teenager I was the first member of my family to visit and lay a tribute at my great great uncle’s name on the Thiepval memorial on the Somme. The stillness and beauty of that place has never left me - such a contrast to the hell in which my Uncle George would have fought and died. 

It is important to remember, and never to repeat the mistakes of the past, and in doing both, to honour the memory of those whose lives were lost.

‘At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.’