REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY:

I always experience the poignancy of this time of the year, and I realise that it comes from being one of the boom babies, born immediately after the end of the Second World War. In my childhood I recall the prefabricated homes that had been erected on the bomb sites in Clapham. We grew up, knowing that the country had been through a terrible experience and that we were lucky to be living in peace with a happier future in prospect. I can remember when rationing finished and we were being told by a Prime Minister that we had “never had it so good!” As I grew up there were the occasional crises, like the Cuban missile affair, but nothing to compare with the chaos we seem to be facing today. So here I am now, at the other end of my life and still trying to piece the story together.

For all the progress, our children are being confronted with the frightening prospect of wars erupting across the world and a very uncertain future.

When I visited the reception classes in Bishop Eton yesterday afternoon, they were able to tell me about the importance of Remembrance Sunday and one of them had been able to provide the class with a tin hat from the First World War that had belonged to a family member.

And, of course, I was able to tell them that my father had been in the army in that same war. I suggest that we use this weekend as an opportunity to deepen our prayer and our commitment to build a happier and more peaceful future.

We will have Services at each of our Memorials on Sunday morning:

9.50am at Bishop Eton before the 10am Mass

11.00am at St Mary’s before the Mass