Remembering the Battle of the Somme
I’ll be supporting British, Northern Irish, and Irish ceremonies in Thiepval, the Ulster Tower, and Guillemont to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, one of the darkest moments in British military history. Men ran towards gun fire through mud: a horrendous imbalance between man and machine, and in many ways the beginning of the warfare we have today.
If you are able, I recommend making the pilgrimage to the Somme. It is beautifully peaceful, and yet scarred by thousands of white headstones representing those who risked everything for this peace.
Dutch Veterans’ Day
The Dutch have a warm-hearted tradition of honouring their veterans on the last Friday of June: each city or town organises an event, usually a meal, to bring local veterans together. This year I’ve been asked to sing in Leiden as part of the city council’s programme. I’m really looking forward to it!
D-Day 81 • Best Defense Foundation
On 8th June I sang for 22 US veterans in the Abbaye aux Hommes, the city hall of Caen.
Best Defense Foundation, supported by Delta Airlines, Michelin, Next Gen, and a warm and wonderful team of volunteers, arranged the tour in a specially chartered plane from Atlantis to Deauville – a rare event as the airport does not usually receive trans-Atlantic flights.
The motto of the foundation is “Taking care of the ones who took care of us.”
Cpl. Jack Myers, Company B, 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, attached with the 104th and 42nd Infantry Division
SSgt Jake M. Larson – “Papa Jake,” G3, V Corps
SSgt George K. Mullins, Co. C, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, author of “Foxholes”
Perhaps the greatest honour of all was being asked to lead “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the veterans’ farewell dinner.
And the memory that will stay with me forever was Jack Myers pure joy when he asked me to sing “How Great Thou Art.”
D-Day 81 • Glider Pilot Regiment Society
The glider pilots played a fundamental role in the Normandy campaign, transporting troops and equipment. Being towed in a mostly wooden glider was not without risk.
The Glider Pilot Regiment Society was established to remember the glider pilots, bring veterans and descendants together, and to pass on the history of the Glider Pilots. In 2022 they unveiled a memorial in Ranville, and today I supported their ceremony, along with the members of Massed Bands of the Pegasus Memorial.
D-Day 81 • Grangues
The story of the crew of the plane that was shot down near Grangues is tragic and awful. The surviving airmen were taken as prisoners of war and shot. The people of the commune hold a three part ceremony each year to remember the airmen, and the villagers who died, and finally a British airman called Wally Troutt.
Troutt parachuted over Grangues on 6th June 1944 when his plane caught fire. He was taken prisoner of war and marched to the Dresden camp. Miraculously, he survived and was liberated by Russian forces in April 1945. He returned to Grangues and Ranville to speak to children and share his message about war: never again.
Troutt’s wish was that his ashes would be taken back to Grangues so he could rest in the valley. He was honoured in the third and final ceremony.
D-Day 81 • Arromanches
The afternoon ceremony in Arromanches on 6th June concluded with a sing along. Thank you to Ken Hay for joining in “We’ll Meet Again,” and to Henry Rice for “Auld Lang Syne.” Watch until the end to see Henry’s special dance!
D-Day 81 • Bayeux War Cemetery
Bayeux War Cemetery is the final resting place of over 4,000 people, over ten percent of whom are German and buried alongside allied enemy forces. The peacefulness of the cemetery is perhaps a good reminded of the futility of war.
Just as last year, I helped draw up the Order of Service, which on request of one of the organisations involved included a German segment in which “Der Gute Kamerad” was read and played. Afterwards, we invited the public to reflect during Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” This was something of a childhood dream come true: when I was young, most cathedral choirs did not accept girls. I always wanted to sing in such a choir and dreamt about how I might be accepted in one. If only I had known that, years later, I I would join fifteen world-class trebles from Christ Church, Oxford, to sing to Second World War veterans and other VIPs.
“Hallelujah,” with The Choristers of Worcestershire College Oxford, directed by Caius Lee, and accompanied by Staff Sergeant Bandmaster Andrew Hall of the British Army Band Tidworth.
The wreath-laying was especially moving. A chorister began the ritual by placing a wreath for his ancestor, buried at Bayeux War Cemetery. The formal wreath laying ended when veterans themselves placed wreaths. I found it moving to sing “You’ll never walk alone” after seeing the veterans struggle to walk in order to honour their companions of over eighty years ago. They have not been forgotten, nor do the veterans walk alone.
“You’ll never walk alone,” British Army Band Tidworth, Captain Peter Brydon.
D-Day 81 • British Normandy Memorial
On 6th June, looking out over Gold Beach which would have been utter carnage eighty-one years ago, we honoured the veterans and the fallen of the Normandy Campaign at the breath-taking British Normandy Memorial in Ver sur Mer, France. The ceremony was organised by the Spirit of Normandy Trust.
Bayeux Cathedral • D-Day 81
On the evening of 5th June we stood still in Bayeux Cathedral for the fallen of the Battle of Normandy, for those who returned bearing the scars of war, those who mourned, and all who are victims of war.
“I’ll Walk with God,” Webster and Brodszky, British Army Band Tidworth, conducted by Captain Peter Brydon
As well as singing, I also drew up the Order of Service. Peace was a major theme. For me, the reading by Dietrich Bonhöffer stood out: he wrote the remembrance is “seeing that which is past, and which we remember today, with all its terrors and all its godlessness, and yet not being afraid, but hearing the preaching of peace.”
With Pipe Major Tosh MacDonald and Jedburgh Pipe Band. You can just glimpse the Choristers of Worcester College, Oxford along with the clergy and standards bearer.
Colleville-Montgomery • D-Day 81
On 5th June, the Spirit of Normandy Trust organised a ceremony at the statue of Viscount Montgomery. Five veterans were present, along with other VIPs including Viscount Henry Montgomery. It was moving to sing for them and to see the veterans take part in the ceremony: reading the Act of Remembrance, laying wreaths, and joining in the singing.
C47 Memorial • Normandy, France
Two US Second World War veterans attended the ceremony at the C47 memorial on 4th June, along with the descendants of those killed in the plane, Brigadier General von Frischen, German Air Force, Lieutenant General Jason T. Hinds, Deputy Commander US Air Force USAFE COM, Maurice Renaud, president of the AVA Association, and Emily Cintora, US Consul for Western France.
D-Day – the 81st anniversary
I’m looking forward to singing in Normandy. This year, I’ll sing the official UK ceremonies at the British Normandy Memorial and at Bayeux War Cemetery, along with the British Army Band Tidworth and the choir of Worcester College Oxford, as well as ceremonies in Bayeux Cathedral, Vauville, and Arromanches.
I’ll be singing for US veterans at the C47 Memorial in Picauville, and at the city hall in Caen, which is located in a beautiful abbey. In Caen, the organisation has asked for Gregorian Chant to give a special atmosphere in the closters, so I’ve been busy preparing a beautiful programme which includes Hildegard of Bingen.
I’ll also sing at a memorial for Canadian airmen in Grangues, a stunning village in a valley with its own water source.
In the last few months, I’ve worked closely with CWGC to organize the music and liturgy for two of the ceremonies. I’m really excited to witness the ceremonies taking place, and to hear the choir and the band.
But most of all, it will be lovely to meet veterans and their carers again. This can also be sad, as each year I’m reminded of those who can no longer make the trip. As you may know, I’m recovering from shoulder surgery so it’s going to be a tough tour, but nowhere near as tough as it must be for the veterans, many of whom are over one hundred years old. It is really a deep honour to support them making their Normandy pilgrimage.
ANZAC Day
I was touched to have been invited to sing for ANZAC Day by the New Zealand Embassy to the Netherlands. The embassy organised the traditional dawn ceremony, with beautiful Maōri elements such as the karanga (a call) as we approached the war cemetery and a waiata (a community song) after the Ambassador’s speech. I sang “Going Home” and led the national anthems.
Perhaps most moving of all were the words of Atatürk from 1934: Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehemets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… you, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
For me, this captures the spirit of remembrance: reconciliation, the acknowledgment of suffering, and, through this, the avoidance of future conflict and war.
CWGC Westduin Cemetery, The Hague, the Netherlands, 25th April 2025.
CWGC Carols in the Guards’ Chapel, London

With the Samarobriva Pipes and Drums.
Source: Région Hauts-de-France
I’m really looking forward to joining Britain’s Got Talent’s winner Colin Thackery and actress Joanna Scanlan as guest performers at the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation’s carol service.
The carol service includes music by Campkin, Manz, and some well-known tradition carols. “Shining in the Snow,” a commission of Maddie Hunt, will also be performed. The singing is led by the choir of the Guards’ Chapel.
The foundation is the charitable arm of the CWGC. Do take a look at their website and the work they do. For more information and tickets, please visit this page.
British Remembrance Day 2024
This year, I’ll return to the Somme, France, to sing remembrance ceremonies at the Ulster Tower, Northern Ireland’s national war memorial, and the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, organized by the Somme Association and the Royal British Legion.
In the afternoon, I will join the West Yorkshire Police Band at CWGC Tyne Cot cemetery in Belgium, where nearly 12,000 soldiers are buried, 8,369 of whom are unknown. A memorial wall lists the names of the missing soldiers.
The violence in the world today worries me deeply, and I hope that by pausing to take in the cost of war, we may also pause if we feel hatred or anger towards others and instead try to find peaceful solutions.
Interview on Dutch national television
I was recently interviewed on Dutch national television as part of the series ‘Petrus in het Land’ about my work singing for remembrance and veterans. I also sang “Danny Boy.”
uring the interview, I told the story of John Sleep, who insisted on attending the German remembrance ceremony in the Netherlands each year near to where he was shot and injured by a German tank. John believed that without reconciliation there could be no peace, and he encouraged other British War veterans to attend German remembrance ceremonies. He also supported the Monument of Tolerance.
I was grateful for the chance to share John’s ideas about the importance of remembrance and the role it can – and should – play in understanding the privilege of living in peace.
Commemorating the Battle of the Somme
Even though I have been visiting the Somme to sing remembrance for nearly a decade, I still feel tremendous sorrow when I see the gravestones and names of the missing. For each name and for each grave there must surely have been families and whole communities of grieving people back home.
This year, on the anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, I led the singing at the Royal British Legion’s ceremony at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, a huge monument that is lovingly in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I sang at the Ulster Tower, Northern Ireland’s national war memorial, and at the memorial to the 16th Irish Division in Guillemont.
D-Day 80 – Evening Concert at the British Normandy Memorial
The Band of the Royal Yorkshire Regiment gave a cracking sunset concert at the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer. It was really wonderful to join them in this spectacular setting to give an uplifting concert and to bring the veterans some cheer.
D-Day 80 – British Normandy Memorial
D-Day 80 – Grangues
On 7th June we remembered the 54 airmen who died near Grangues. Some were killed in the crash, others were taken prisoner and shot. The villagers still remember them with great admiration and love eighty years later. I sang “The Rose” and led the anthems.
D-Day 80 – Bayeux Cathedral
On 5th June I joined the Band of the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, Hereford Cathedral Choir, and four pipe bands to provide music for a service of remembrance in Bayeux Cathedral in the presence of veterans and HRH The Princess Royal.