I STOOD in silence in the town centre last week, with military veterans and other members of the public, to hear the ‘Last Post’ reverberate around the High Street as this years Armed Forces Day flag was raised above the Guildhall.

It was somewhat of a surprising ceremony to hold there, which I caught only by chance, given that we are repeatedly told that the High Street is no place for commemoration and remembrance of our war dead.

What a shame that as the old soldiers, sailors and airmen stood proudly to attention, their campaign medals gleaming in the sunshine, the cenotaph bearing the names of their forbearers who sacrificed their lives for our freedom was nowhere to be seen, being still banished to the churchyard; out of sight and out of mind.

Surely, this is just the sort of ceremony that warrants the memorial’s return to its original location, the place that the families who had lost loved ones decided to place it.

Well either that or we should erect a flagpole next to the cenotaph so that the flag can be raised there, and respect to the dead can be formally paid.

It was interesting for me to see that those gathered in the High Street formed an almost perfect semi-circle around the location the cenotaph used to stand. It was as if the spirit of the memorial, and the men that it honours, still exerts some influence on the town centre, compelling those gathering there for such occasions to subconsciously stand around its sadly absent form.

With the centenary of the end of the war only months away, and events such as this flag raising showing there is respect and honour to be had in town centre commemorations, it is time to return our wonderful war memorial to where it belongs; in the High Street, outside the Guildhall.

Dr Bob Roberts, Millway Road, Andover