Don’t forget that tomorrow, November 11, is Remembrance Day when we remember those who fought in the wars for our country.
Remembrance Sunday is this weekend when special services will be held in churches all over the country. Remembrance Day is held on November 11 as it is the day that the first world war ended in 1918.
There is always a two-minute silence at 11am when people stop whatever they are doing to spare a thought for those who died in the two world wars and also wars more recent than that.
You have perhaps seen war veterans march to church proudly wearing their medals on Remembrance Sunday. Wreaths are laid on the memorials which have a place in every community.
The two-minute silence, again held at 11am, is often followed by a lone bugler playing the Last Post followed by the Reveille. In past wars the Last Post was always sounded at the end of each day and the Reveille at the beginning of the day.
You have perhaps heard Remembrance Day referred to as Poppy Day. This is because it is always traditional to wear an artificial poppy.
They are sold by the Royal British Legion, which is a charity dedicated to helping war veterans, especially the elderly ones. Poppies are worn because in the first world war the western front in Flanders, Belgium, contained thousands of poppy seeds lying dormant in the soil.
These seeds would have laid there for many years, but because the battles that were fought there churned up the soil so much, it meant that the poppies bloomed like never before.
This amazing show of poppies inspired a Canadian soldier, Major John McCrae, to write his famous poem, In Flanders Fields.
Later the British Legion decided to adopt the poppy as their emblem. Don’t forget to wear your poppy this weekend.
