Letter from the editor: A time to pause and remember

My initial thought was that she was probably old enough to have lost someone close to her in the Second World War. However, on reflection I realised that it might not have been a father, a brother or a husband in the 1939-1945 conflict, but it could have been a son or grandson in Aden, Northern Ireland or even Iraq.

For that’s the terrible thing about this time of remembrance, it’s not confined to the ‘war to end all wars’ or the one that followed, there are people shedding tears over loved ones lost in recent years.

Watch the poppy petals fall during any Festival of Remembrance and it’s not only symbolising those who died in the last century, it’s for those who died in recent memory.

For sadly, the lessons from history have not been learned and conflicts are still taking place around the globe.

While we cannot stand back and allow tyranny and terrorists to seize power, we must do all that we can to avoid loss of life.

There is no easy answer or quick fix how countries can do that but tolerance of others must rate highly on the agenda.

Aggression is never a solution only a catalyst for more bloodshed and loss. Something we definitely do not need more of.

Going forward, we must never forget the sacrifice by those who died and those who face going on without them, but we must do all we can not to replicate the mistakes made in the past by our predecessors.

Lest we 
forget.