IT’S now November, the month of Remembrance Sunday. When I first became a councillor, I rarely attended the service in St Giles.

Neither of my grandfathers had served in the armed forces and so it all felt a bit remote to me.

I feared that the Remembrance service might be backward looking, glorify war and rekindle old resentments between different countries.

Various things have happened since then to change my mind and I now always make an effort to attend.

Firstly, I spent time talking to my brother in law, a former bandsman in the Scots Guards who served in the Gulf War. Secondly, I read a number of books about the First World War: Sebastian Faulk’s Birdsong and Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy had a huge impact on me. It made me realise that we all ought to take this opportunity to remember those who suffer terribly because of war and we all ought to take the time to reflect on how we can all work for peace and freedom.

Last month, I visited Bydgoszcz in Poland, a city which has variously been under German, Russian and Polish control over the past century. I stood in the square outside the Town Hall where over thirty prominent citizens had been rounded up and shot at the beginning of the Second World War. It made me realise how lucky we are in Oxford to have been able to live in peace for so many years.

The Remembrance Sunday service in St Giles is always well attended.

For several years now, our service has been a multi-faith one, with representatives of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths taking part. People from many faiths and cultures have fought for our freedom and way of life in the UK.

The repatriation ceremonies in Headley Way are always very moving occasions and the Royal British Legion and the police deserve enormous thanks for organising these so well.

I often attend these and I always have a lump in my throat as the coffins draped in the Union flag drive past.

My daughters are usually with me, joined by many other school children coming out of school.

They must be the first generation of school children for more than half a century to witness at close hand the effects of war.

Let’s hope that they grow up to share the same passion for peace as those growing up in the shadow of the Second World War.