Remembrance Day 2010

As the years continue to go by it is forever more important to remember those who went before, who gave their lives so that you can live yours.

I’ve spent the past week explaining to my American co-workers why I was wearing a poppy (no it doesn’t  squirt water, no it isn’t for cancer awareness) and each time it has made me recall how hard it is to explain the emotions that welled within me when I saw the memorial in my childhood village, or the one in my school’s playing fields.  The long list of names, and so many surnames repeated in first one and then the second world wars.  Since then so many more have served at home and in foreign lands, paying the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live the lives we do.

As each year passes it becomes more and more important to remember the lessons of history, to recall the service of those who protected Great Britain, and the free world, and to ensure that their sacrifice is not forgotton.

We will remember them.

I tell you I’m a Hobbit!

I read in the news (The Telegraph – Middle Earth protest as New Zealanders take to the streets over Hobbit plans) that Peter Jackson was considering moving the troubled production of Tolkien’s Hobbit out of New Zealand.  Outraged Antipodeans protested with banners stating “New Zealand is Middle Earth”.

This made me smile because I consider myself a bit of a hobbit, albeit a six foot tall hobbit.  Why? Well, truth be told, I’m from “the shire”, you see.  So here are some well known (and some not so well known) facts about Hobbits and their creator:

• Tolkien lived in Warwickshire and the village of Sarehole provided the inspiration for Hobbiton. (BBC Coventry & Warwickshire – Tolkien’s Warwickshire connection)
• Tolkien was a fire warden during World War 2 and spoke of watching Coventry burn on the horizon (Google Books – J.R.R. Tolkien encyclopedia: scholarship and critical assessment. by Michael D. C. Drout). This provided inspiration for the fiery destructive depths of Mordor.
• Hobbits are known for their frequent meals.  This is no surprise to someone from rural Warwickshire where the day’s eating opportunities can number six different meals and countless cups of tea in-between!  If you don’t believe me, here’s the list:

1. Breakfast
2. Elevensies
3. Lunch
4. Tea
5. Dinner
6. Supper

So, seeing as I was born and bred in Warwickshire and have hairy feet, I put it to you that I’m a Hobbit!

Happy Midwinter!

Today is the shortest day, and tonight will be the longest night, and regardless of religious scriptures, or personal beliefs, this is the astronomical moment when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest from the sun…the winter solstice.

If you want to know more about the Winter Solstice, I suggest a read of Wikipedia for a fascinating article. It always amazes me how so many different civilizations and cultures have celebrated this time of year. Whether it be the Norse inspired Hogmanay of  Scotland, the murderous Lenaea festival of ancient Greece (The Festival of Wild Women, where a man or bull symbolising Dionysus was torn to pieces and eaten), the ancient (6000 year old) mysteries of the Druidic and Celtic midwinter festivals (a culture which built Newgrange, a tomb/chamber only illuminated on the winter solstice, and the summer solstice Stone Henge), or the youthful (4th century Rome, 11th Century England) Natalis Domini which we know by the modern (and commercialised) name of Christmas, they all occur in alignment with this time of the astronomical year with subtle variations based upon the changes in calendar systems, etc.

What better way to celebrate this midwinter than with Jethro Tull’s 1976 midwinter classic, Ring Solstice Bells:

Radiohead – Harry Patch (In Memory Of)

Back in August Radiohead released a song dedicated to the memory of the last British veteran of World War 1, the late Harry Patch.

All proceeds of the song are being donated to the The Royal British Legion, and the song can be downloaded from the Radiohead website here.

footage from ITN News

As Thom Yorke states on the Radiohead website:

It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us.
I hope we do not forget.

As Harry himself said
“Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims”.

We will remember them

For their sake, wear a poppy and please give generously

It is Remembrance Day, and once more after a week of explaining to coworkers why I am wearing a poppy I will be taking time to pause for two minutes in the November sunshine to think of those serving overseas, and those who never came home.

I will think of my great-grandfather’ service in the Royal Lancers and the Warwickshire Yeomanry, and of my grandfather’s quiet words about friends of his that didn’t come home.  I will think of my grandmother telling of watching Coventry burn, and of my brother recounting his experiences from Iraq and Afghanistan.  I will think of my friends currently serving overseas, and of their friends, some of whom never made it home.  I will think of all of those who put their lives in peril so that we may live as we do today.

I will recall the words of the Ode of Remembrance from Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen“:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

From Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen“, the Ode of Remembrance

To learn more about the new ways you can support The Poppy Appeal click here