Today is 100 years on from the Battle of the Somme - July 1st 2016 make sure you pause, reflect + say thank you to our forebears

My generation is lucky we have not to have had to fight a major conflict. The Somme saw the unprecedented loss of life of so many. It started today and saw tens of thousands of men die day by day. Pause a moment and reflect how lucky our generation has been not to have had to fight a major conflict.

July 1st anniversary of the Battle of the Somme approaches - our generation very lucky not to be part of a major conflict

I have been to the battle fields of Northern France where so many lost their lives 100 years ago. It is a very sobering visit. I will be part of the national commemorations of the worst battle of WW1. Many locals in Tynedale lost their lives 100 years ago. The Courant did this excellent piece on those lost from Haydon Bridge and Hexham.
http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/features/Remembering-those-who-died-on-the-Somme-24917f97-5e0c-4ec4-a8d4-e48d7e5f14e5-dsp
A wider piece on the Somme itself with amazing pictures is here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3610407/Scars-Somme-Time-healed-landscape-100-years-fields-signs-battle-claimed-300-000-lives.html

World War One Christmas Truce Football game for the Army Benevolent Fund - All Party MP group lose 6-1 to the Army

http://www.londonlive.co.uk/news/2014-12-10/it-may-not-have-been-england-vs-germany-but-it-was-almost-as-competitive
Football [and the Army Team] was the winner when a group of MPs played an Army Benevolent Fund match a couple of weeks back early one sunny morning to celebrate the 1914 Christmas Truce. There is no doubt which was the fitter side! Jim Murphy, MP, the new Scottish Labour Leader, captained the side and made the point that with 3 political parties all playing together, and losing 6-1, we spent a lot of the time shouting at each other ...and not a lot of time passing accurately to each other. Jims interview is good fun and the 1 minute highlight above is humbling and well worth a watch.
The match was for a very good cause, and the army lads were a great bunch:
http://www.soldierscharity.org/

Commemoration of World War 1 in Hexham

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in a packed Hexham Abbey as Northumberland came together to pay their respects and commemorate the bravery of our troops who went to France so full of hope in 1914 and thereafter. As we know the war was not over by Christmas 1914, and the lives of those who survived was one long struggle of death, mud, and a changing perception of the conflict.

I have never been to a more vivid or moving service. This was a seamless blend of theatre, church, military, interested parties, local community and supportive charities all coming together in a sacred place. Due praise must go to the organisers, particularly The Lord Lieutenants team, the many churchmen of differing faiths, and the rural Dean, Dagmar, who along with all the helpers at Hexham Abbey, made this event possible. Everyone I spoke to afterwards agreed that the use of the two outstanding actors to bring the tragic events to life was a resounding success.

The lessons to be learnt were many, not least that peace is precious and often very hard won. Security and freedoms can never be taken for granted. But the service did much to covey the full horror of what those who served endured for all of us. I believe very strongly that it is important that the children of our generation need to have an understanding of what went on 100 years ago; I am delighted that so many of our local schools have plans to take their schoolchildren to the battlefields and monuments so that they have a better understanding.
The events across Europe today to continue our awareness and commemoration and they are set out in more detail by the BBC below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28632223