From Dave Jones, Chillerton:

Re the article by your anonymous contributor Malcolm Mime (CP, Weekender 09-09-18).

I am not surprised he cannot be bothered to acknowledge the two-minute silence as he appears not to be bothered to make a great deal of effort to research his subject before putting pen to paper.

Had he bothered to do any research, he would have quickly found that the move to a Sunday was nothing to do with the church, but was a decision made by the government in 1939 to prevent loss of productivity should November 11 fall on a weekday.

He makes a further mistake in asserting the current generation are not able to relate to this ceremony.

Although the emphasis this year is much more on the First World War, because it is the hundredth anniversary of the Armistice, the dead of more recent wars are also remembered.

Many of the current generation have lost immediate family members in these wars.

I attended the ceremony and service at Newport on Sunday.

There were hundreds of children of all ages from the uniformed youth movements in attendance.

They would not have been compelled to attend, so they were there because they wanted to be.

The same will have occurred throughout the Island and, indeed, throughout the country. 

 If he can be bothered, perhaps Mr Mime would like to reflect on the fact that the freedom he has to express his opinion in the paper has been won by the many people who have given or risked their lives — and continue to do so — for him to enjoy that freedom.