The lights are going out all over Europe and I doubt we will see them go on again in our lifetime.

War memorial with candles

Castle Gardens, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire

4th August 2014

'The lights are going out all over Europe and I doubt we will see them go on again in our lifetime.' So said Sir Edward Grey on 3rd August 1914, the evening before Britain declared war on Germany and a new terrifying era of mechanised warfare was unleashed across Europe and beyond.

Tonight in Bishops Stortford, many people of the town gathered in Castle Gardens at the base of the main war memorial to lay candles to mark this centennial event.

It was one hundred years ago, but the changes that 'The Great War' ushered in changed Britain massively and completely reshaped the lives of the population in ways that we are still feeling to this day.

Whilst there I had the bonus of having a brief chat with some veterans, one from the Korean war and one D-Day veteran.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.