Remembrance Sunday

Aled Jones visits the Imperial War Museum in London to mark Remembrance Sunday and meets Christians who, in different ways, are keeping the memories of service and sacrifice alive.

In the museum, Aled meets 92-year-old Jill Cavanagh, a volunteer with the We Were There programme that offers visitors the opportunity to meet and talk to people who lived through conflict. Jill talks to Aled about her childhood in London during the Blitz, evacuation, and the loss and fear so many families endured.

At the Royal British Legion’s Battle Back Centre in Shropshire, former soldier Corporal Tilly Fisher shares her story of faith, conflict and living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Growing up in a faith-filled family in Fiji, Tilly went on to serve 12 years in the British Army with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before being medically discharged and going on to be diagnosed with PTSD. She shares how the help of the Royal British Legion and her deep Christian faith have helped her to manage her condition. She even went on to win gold at the Invictus Games.

Back in London, Aled meets Father (Padre) Stephen Sharkey, a military chaplain donating his personal field kit to the collections of the Imperial War Museum. He shows Aled the items he used to lead services and funerals in Afghanistan, and explains why he feels it important that each generation preserves the memories of war and the experiences of those who served.

With hymns for Remembrance Sunday from across the UK, and a new song written and performed by the 2023 Young Chorister of the Year, Natalie Fooks, entitled Under the Poppies.

1. Eternal Father Strong to Save – Hull Minster
2. For All the Saints – Southampton
3. Under the Poppies – Natalie Fooks
4. Abide with Me – Coventry
5. I Vow to Me Thee My Country – Jamie Lonsdale
6. Lord We Come to Ask Your Healing – Penarth