10 Nov Keyboards fall silent…

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red is the very apt title of the inspiring and very moving installation of poppies which mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. The 888,246 ceramic poppies fill the Tower of London’s famous moat, portraying an emotional time in our history.

Now, a hundred years on, we solemnly continue to mark the event of Armistice Day in our own ways. Many choose the familiar paper poppy, a steadfast favourite to signify a small and personal way to remember. Others display a car poppy, even a bus- or HGV poppy in their display of reverence.

But it’s not just the red emblem. Something very special happens on 11th November at 11am every year. Something that touches thousands of people. As the WW1 guns fell silent at 11am all those years ago, so do we.

Across countries and continents, somewhere and everywhere, the thousands who lost their lives are remembered. Not only do the families, descendants and armed forces mark the moment, but those who have no connection to all those heroes, no knowledge of who they were or how they fell, also intrinsically know that the time is right to honour them.

Whether you choose Remembrance Sunday (the second Sunday in November) to remember in your own personal way, or the eleventh of the eleventh itself, you won’t be alone. And that’s the point.

Shopping centres, offices, homes, cenotaphs, parks, cafes, train and bus stations, even areas of pavement – not everywhere – but in more places that we can begin to imagine, will fall eerily quiet. We will remember.

Here at MAL, at 11am on Tuesday, 11^th November, we’ll pause for a few moments. No gentle hum of chatter, no quiet industry, no tick tick tick of busy fingers. Our keyboards will fall silent.

In many ways, it’s a small gesture, but one we’re proud to be part of.