My Visiter article this week

The past week has seen many moving acts of Remembrance and the Visiter has covered these excellently on their website. I would like to share with you a number of the less formal events I attended that deserve to be noted.

On Armistice Day I was at Farnborough Rd School for the two-minute silence at 11.00am. The pupils had made their own poppies that were planted in ‘poppy field’ in the school grounds. Each child had written on the petal of their poppy the name of someone in their family who had died in the wars and conflicts since 1914. Those who could not trace a relation wrote the name of the Unknown Soldier. I was struck by how powerful an act of Remembrance this produced as all the children had discovered something about the loss that had impacted on every family in the nation and it gave them something to focus on during the silence which the kept impeccably.

On Saturday I was at Ainsdale Methodist church to view their Remembrance Exhibition. This featured original artwork by Tony Bramham which included the faces of local people who served with distinction in the armed forces. There were also pictures by schoolchildren some of whom had come to the luncheon club to interview older members of the church about their wartime experiences. There is more information and pictures on my blog which you can find www.theMayoralBlog.blogspot.uk . Whilst I was there Tony and I met a naval veteran who had escorted artic convoys in WW2

On Saturday evening I was fortunate to have been invited to Holy Trinity in Southport. This church has an excellent musical tradition and their Remembrance Concert featured Faure’s Requiem.

There was more music on Sunday night when after a busy day I was at the Crosby Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Sound of Scandinavia’ concert. It was an adventuress programme including Nielsen’s 4^th Symphony that the executed brilliant.  

Almost every week the Mayoral diary includes a visit to one of our local school. Last week was the turn of Greenbank High School where I attended their Prize Giving evening. I was inspired by the achievements of the young people and marvel at the breadth of the curriculum the school offers.

Next week I shall be involved with a special fundraising event for the Mayor’s Charity as well as attending a 100^th birthday party.