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.

William Joseph Cliffe of the Ox and Bucks Light Infantry is buried in Vauville. On 4th June, we held a ceremony at his grave, on which is written:

“In My Heart He Will Always Live, The Best Of Sons That God Could Give. Mother”

He was twenty when he died.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Singing for veterans is something close to my heart. I will be travelling to Normandy next week for various ceremonies to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. These include British, French, and Canadian ceremonies in Caen, Colleville-Montgomery, Ranville, Bayeux, Beny sur Mer, Ver sur Mer and Grangues.

Please check my social media for stories, videos, and photographs as the week progresses.

At dawn on 9th April I sang during a ceremony to commemorate the Battle of Arras. We gathered outside the Wellington Tunnels. Around twenty metres below us was a network of tunnels, which was expanded by largely Māori soldiers from the New Zealand tunnellers. Some of the tunnels are open for visitors today. Over 24,000 allied soldiers and officers sheltered there in 1917 before pouring out at dawn on 9th April in a surprise attack. The battle claimed over 250,000 casualties.

As the ceremony drew to a close, the sun rose and we heard birdsong and the gentle hum of Arras’s morning traffic. A peaceful contrast to the pandemonium and death of 107 years ago.