Emma has just returned from Normandy, France where she sung in various remembrance ceremonies to commemorate the seventy-third anniversary of D-day. On 6^th June, 1944, the Allies campaign to liberate Western Europe began on the beaches of Normandy. The stories of those involved are humbling.

During the Royal British Legion’s remembrance service in Bayeux this year, the Revd. Patrick Irwin suggested we could regard D-day as a mosaic. Whilst today, we can see the whole picture of the military campaign, the picture is composed of single stones. Each soldier’s story forms a single stone. It was a privilege to meet D-day veterans and to listen to their stories.

Emma sang for remembrance ceremonies in Chouain, Jerusalem, Colleville-Montgomery, Bénouville, Bayeux, and Arromanches for the Normandy Veterans Association, the Royal British Legion, the 52nd Oxford and Bucks regiment, and the family Bates. The tour ended with a concert at Château de Bénouville with the Band of Liberation and Pipes.

The next day, at the lunch of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans, Emma was serenaded by some of the veterans themselves. You can watch a short film of veteran Danny McCrudden singing “When you were sweet sixteen” here.