REMEMBRANCE Sunday this year took on an even greater poignancy marking 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War.

There are strong arguments that we should never have got involved in that conflict. It certainly was not as clear cut as the Second, but Britain is a country of her word. “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing”.

As I stood in the Garden of Remembrance in St Mary’s, staring up at the names inscribed on Andover’s Cenotaph, I couldn’t help but recall the scale of such tragic suffering and loss. Of over 16,000 British villages only 53 needed no memorial.

One of those to lose his life was my great grandfather’s uncle, Sidney Gunnell, killed in November 1914.

Next weekend I will travel to Belgium to visit his grave, the commemoration having inspired me to research his story. The editor has agreed for me to tell that story in the Advertiser on my return.

As we reflect today on the centenary of the conflict it is important that we ensure that the stories, bravery and horrors of that war are recalled by us and the next generation, who will remember them.

Cllr Phil North, Alamein Ward