Fareham United Reformed Church

We remember those who died in our wars in November, but this summer it was 70 years since Hitler’s troops marched into Poland and the Second World War began. My mother, aged 10 at the time, burst into tears when she heard the news. And tears still flow today with memories of that war; a very unusual depiction of the Second World War won ‘Ukraine’s Got Talent!’ this year which moved the audience to tears. The ‘Sand Animation’ by Kseniya Simonova is a truly remarkable piece of art; if you have access to a computer you can find this 9-minute production on www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZ0. Do watch it if you can.

The Ukraine, along with most other east European counties, lost unimaginable numbers of people during the war. In Europe, about 14 million military personnel died, and 27 million civilians were killed in the war; Britain lost 60,000 civilians. For the last few months I have lived with two World Wars, studying war and social change between 1914 and 1955 with the Open University, a challenging course with a lot of reading but also some amazing old film and recorded historical moments. I shall miss it!

Judith James