Muxworthy's Musings

Introduction. Have you ever experienced a moment when you caught a glimpse of the price tag for some of the privileges we enjoy today? Some years ago, I went out to France to visit the Somme battlefield. Most of us are aware of the terrible loss of life in that battle which took place between July and November 1916. As you would expect there are numerous cemeteries and memorials in that area but one above all dominates all of them. It is the Thiepval memorial to the missing. It stands a total of 160ft high inscribed with the 72,246 names of all those who were killed on this battlefield between 1915 and 1918 and have no known grave – and that is just the British side. To put that into some context the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff holds 74,500. One of the thoughts that hit me was each one of those names were all some mother’s son, they all ate, slept, laughed, and cried just like the rest of us. I am not ashamed to say that the enormity of this sight moved me to tears and from t...