Following the moving service of remembrance at Worcester Cathedral on Sunday and the passing of the centenary of the armistice it was touching to see the Queen and the Prime Minister standing with the President of Germany at Westminster Abbey - a symbol of the great reconciliation that has taken place, but also a reminder that it has taken such a long time for that to happen.

When Worcester’s own Woodbine Willie returned after the Great War he did so as a convinced pacifist, believing he had witnessed the “war to end all wars,” but he and many others would have been shocked to see the speed with which the high hopes of peace in 1918 were replaced by strife and conflict in the twenty-one years that followed.

As I stood to lay my wreath before Worcester’s Great War memorial in the bright sunlight on Remembrance Sunday, the inscription on the steps below reminded us that the sacrifices of sons from 1914 to 1918 were followed all too soon by those of the city’s sons and daughters from 1939 to 1945.

It is right that each year we take time to reflect on those huge losses of life but also on the bravery, the sense of duty, and the service of all those who fought then and since for our country and its freedom.

It was an honour to see in the crowd veterans of the Second World War now in their nineties alongside much younger faces from the cadets and from voluntary organisations who continue their record of service.

At a recent event in Parliament organised by the ‘Forgotten Heroes’ campaign we commemorated the huge contribution of Muslim soldiers in the Great War, around 400,000 of whom served under British colours and on the Western Front, in Africa, and in the Middle East. Long before Worcester’s own Muslim community was established, volunteer soldiers from Kashmir and beyond were contributing to the enormous Commonwealth effort and we should ensure in all our commemoration that their contribution is acknowledged - something that was reflected well in the recent Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace exhibition that came to Worcester.

Alongside these moving events of remembrance, it was a pleasure to be able to attend a celebration at one of Worcester’s newest restaurants - ‘The Colourful Pots’ Polish restaurant - of the centenary of Poland’s independence, something that Britain was firm in insisting on as part of the Versailles Treaty.

It was a reminder that our contribution to Europe long predates our membership of a European Union and that as we prepare for our departure from the latter we should continue to invest in and celebrate our strong bilateral relations with friends and neighbours around the continent.

The peace and progress, the advent of freedom and democracy across our continent and in the wider world that has been seen in the century since 1918 - and particularly in the last third of that century - is something to be welcomed and cherished, something that we should celebrate even as we commemorate and learn from past tragedies.