Campaign for a 2 minute silence for troops on christmas day.

[Alison]

I'm surprised you haven't heard about this Alison as you live around this area & it's been on the local T.V. news Granada Reports etc. although I don't know if it's had much coverge nationally. The young lad mentioned in the article was from round here & his family have done quite a lot to raise the profile of the troops & their families & have done a sponsored walk recently to raise money for the Fusiliers support group in his memory. I think it's a nice idea to pause & remember every one who has passed away whether in the forces or not but I can see the difficulty in organising it nationally. I think a few people have suggested perhaps it could be done around or during the Queen's speech which would be a nice idea.

Must have just missed the bits where it's been mentioned then. Glad it has been publicised.

Only problem with tying it into the Queen's speech bit is that not many pepole listen to it these days, maybe get a better audience if they put it in the middle of one of the soaps

[SueA]

Good idea Alison, stick it on in the 'Queen Vic' & 'The Rovers', captive audiences!

[quark1]

Whilst I applaud the sentiment, there is already a day when the fallen and damaged from conflict are remembered by the nation - steeped in tradition and rooted in the calendar. And long may that last.

If we should remember those no longer at the table at Xmas then it should be everyone 'absent' - family, friends, those who fall victim to crime, those who have served their country and so on. It is a very personal thing and each family experiences their own particular sense of loss.

In my case I have my own set of people who are missed - even a mother I never met - and a history, as I have discovered, of military service where the ultimate price has been paid and by which I am humbled.

I would like to think that everyone who has passed is remembered. The weak, the brave, the infirm, the wronged, the diseased, the old, the young. Anyone reading these pages - even for just this year - will know that the remembrance of those whose shoes we are not fit to fill - are all too many and poignant.

I wish everyone - whatever/wherever your origins - who has experienced loss, the peace that the Xmas period might bestow.

[Alison]

Lovely sentiments Quark

[FionaH]

Come on Fiona, I didn't say that your sons were a problem, am sure you're bringing them up great. Nor did I say there was a problem with young people. I don't think that young people are any more of a problem then any other age group but sadly there are (and probably always was) a group of people who are too self centred to care about anything else which is why Christmas is seen by some (not all and I'm not saying you, oro your family) as a time to spend obscene amounts of money rather then anything deeper. I'm not aiming this at anybody here and don't think my post indicates that I was, in fact to be honest, the fact that most people grow and make their own means that we have a closer relationship with the things I think are important than many people. However that's not the point of this thread so please don't go off on one.

I didn't for a minute take your post personally and I merely used my sons as an example to underline the point I was making. I dislike generalisations. I do realise that my reply was rude for which I apologise.

By the way I wasn't going "off on one", would have been much louder if I was