The centenary of the First World War.  Our village was gifted a tree and plaque from Bedford Council to mark the 1914-1918 War and we planted this today at noon in blustery sunshine to the accompaniment of The Last Post played on a trumpet by a member of The Salvation Army.  As we lowered our eyes to remember those who had been lost in that devastating war I thought of my late Grandpa Sam who had fought at the Battle of the Somme.  He was a gunner and worked with the horses and he would tell my brother and me of his nightmares remembering the rats running over him as he and his comrades slept in the mud filled trenches.  My brother tells me that Sam was wounded with shrapnel in his hand although he never talked to me of his injuries.  Later he shook off his terrible experience and worked as a German interpreter in Paris where his knowledge of Yiddish ( it was the language they spoke at home in their East End tenement) was of use to the British army.

Let us hope against hope that we will see an end to war and tree planting ceremonies and the wasteful loss of human life.