Dear editor I FOUND Sunday’s remembrance service in Hamilton Terrace very moving.

I reflected upon the hymns like ‘For all those in peril on the sea’, and ‘Onward Christian soldiers’ with thoughts drifting back to an article I read once in a Western Front Journal entitled Stand To.

It was written by a veteran of the 1914-18 war in which he related his memories of a most momentous occasion when during the night of December 24, 1914 he heard singing from the opposing trenches less than 200 yards away and he heard the name Jesus spoken in carol.

Some Tommies began to sing Christmas hymns like ‘Unto us this day in Bethlehem a child is born who will be the saviour of the world’.

They all started to join in with carols like ‘A starlight over Bethlehem’ and ‘Whilst shepherds watch their flocks by night’.

Then he saw a German with a white flag asking for a truce to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The following morning thousands of Germans British and French met in no mans land and exchanged gifts of cigarettes and photos of family.

It became known as the Christmas truce and still today it is talked about a remarkable occasion in the midst of war.

Richard S Barnes Marble Hall Close