Our local community are hugely supportive of honouring our fallen heroes, veterans and serving members of the armed forces on Remembrance weekend, and I would like to thank everyone who arranged and supported all of the excellent events across the constituency.

It was a great honour and a privilege to arrange for wreaths to be laid at memorial services across Bexley, including the War Memorial in Sidcup, the War Memorials in Bexley Village, Foots Cray and North Cray, Holy Redeemer Lamorbey, Holy Trinity Lamorbey and the Scout Tree Memorial in Bexley Woods. And before anyone asks, I pay for these personally and not the taxpayer.

I also had the privilege of reading from the Gospel of Matthew at the excellent Civic Remembrance Sunday Service at St. John's Church Sidcup, as well as attending the East Wickham and Welling War Memorial Trust's Festival of Remembrance, Sidcup Rugby Club’s President’s Lunch that helped fundraise for the Royal British Legion and the Holy Trinity Lamorbey Naval and RAF Cadet Remembrance Service.

It was also very special privilege to lay a wreath at the first ever Remembrance Service at The Men with Broken Faces’ Memorial at Queen Mary’s Hospital (as pictured). The memorial is dedicated to soldiers who were facially disfigured in the First World War and received treatment at our local hospital, which was the site where the early pioneers of plastic surgery such as Sir Harold Gillies carried out at least 11,000 operations attempting to give wounded men their faces back. The memorial was curated by local resident Ellie Grigsby and it was a real pleasure to join her and representatives from across the Sidcup community for this moving service led by Reverend Cathy. 

It remains just as important now as ever to remember all those who served our country and paid the ultimate price so that we can enjoy our freedoms today.