This year, Alison and I are able to count ourselves alongside other parents in this Church whose children currently serve in the armed forces. It’s a year since our Harry joined the Royal Navy and my brother’s youngest son, Sebastian, is currently undergoing somewhat intensive training to become a Royal Marine Commando! They both continue an unbroken family tradition of service going back to the 1870’s. There are others in our Church whose family lineage can tell a similar story and whose children continue to serve, as many have done in the past, and we should always remember them in our prayers.
This year remembrance banners are being displayed on the Vicarage wall and the gable end of the parish hall. Services will take place at 8.00 am, 10.30 am, 3.00 pm at the Village War Memorial and the Roll Call for the Fallen will be at 6.30pm. We will continue to “Remember” as we always have and the Ex-Servicemen’s Standard will be paraded through the Village as it was even through Covid last November.
To be the custodians of Remembrance is a huge privilege and one which we must safeguard amidst the changes that society and the world visit upon us. We here at Tottington remain vigilant in doing just that; it is our duty. I shall remember members of my own family who, aged in their late teens and early 20’s, were killed under the flag that flies outside this Church and I shall honour their memory, their service and their sacrifice. Countless other families around the world will do the same.
“We Will Remember Them”
The Vicar