ON SUNDAY I once again attended the Remembrance Sunday parade and service here in Penarth.

It was an honour to lay a wreath, on behalf of all constituents, and to stand alongside other local representatives, forces personnel and members of the public to pay our respects – to those who have served and those who continue to serve.

Remembrance Sunday provides us with a chance to step back for a short time from our busy modern lives, and reflect on the sacrifices that our brave servicemen and women have made - and continue to make - in order to keep us safe and free.

Marching with serving members of the armed forces, as well as with veterans and cadets, is always a great honour – and meeting them and their family members is a privilege.

Remembrance-tide is also an opportunity to pay tribute to the fantastic work done by armed forces charities locally and nationally, and it was good to catch up with a number of local supporters on Sunday at the service and afterwards.

It was also good to see a strong turn-out of local voluntary organisations and school representatives, as well as local civic and religious leaders; and of course many members of the public along the parade route offering their support and pausing in silent contemplation of their own.

Remembrance Sunday is always a time of reflection, both public and personal, and this year - in these turbulent and uncertain times - it was as moving as ever.

I AM proud to be a vice president of the Penarth Civic Society, which does sterling work - having managed some major projects in the town including the renovation of the memorial gardens, and a civic plaque scheme to highlight the successful refurbishment of some important town buildings.

The group aims to cherish the best of Penarth’s heritage while ensuring a vision is in place for the town’s future.

They will be mounting an exhibition in January, and in order to collect contributions from local people, the Heritage Centre – at South Lodge in Windsor Gardens – will be open every Saturday between 11am and 1pm until Christmas.

They are looking for contributions, of photographs on A4 sheets of any new building or renovation work carried out in Penarth since the end of the last century that has changed the internal or external appearance of the area.

They are hoping to gather some interesting archive material, and I’m sure there are plenty of Penarth Times readers who can help out.