At 6am this morning, ordinary people stood at the end of their driveways, lit a candle, held a minutes silence, in remembrance of all who have served in wars and conflicts.

ANZAC Day is the national Remembrance Day for Australia and New Zealand, commemorating the landings at Gallipoli on this day in 1915.

Usually, dawn services are held at local cenotaphs but such gatherings are cancelled this year. So we were encouraged to “gather as one” outside our homes.

I could see three other sets of neighbours in our small section of street. I could hear the broadcast from the National War Memorial in Canberra. I held a candle and sprig of rosemary, which grows wild on the Gallipoli peninsula and is as much a symbol of ANZAC Day as the poppy.

Everyday musicians were asked to play “The Last Post” on any instrument.

Our daughter played her saxophone and made these lovely lanterns out of milk cartons.

“Thousands of soldiers dressed in First World War uniforms appeared in towns and cities across the UK as part of a live public memorial, to commemorate the 19,240 men who died one hundred years ago on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.”

“The modern day participants were seen walking, some sitting and waiting, all silent apart from the occasional burst of song.”

“Many people described how they had tried to approach the ‘soldiers’ to ask them what they were doing. In each case, the men remained silent and simply handed out a white card which displayed the name, age, rank, battalion and regiment of a real soldier who had died at the Somme on July 1, 1916.”

“The project, marking the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, was conceived by artist Jeremy Deller and the National Theatre’s Rufus Norris.”

“This has to be one of the most meaningful UK public art projects of recent times.”

The above words and the photos are from the internet.

The following words are mine.

I really wish I had been in the UK on Friday to witness this event. Such a simple yet effective commemoration.

I have various poignant memories and images that relate to WW1 – the daily ceremony of the Last Post at the Menin Gate  in Ypres – Tyne Cot cemetery in Belgium – the Tower of London Poppies.

Even though I have not experienced this event first hand, these images are now in my memory bank along with the others.