I recently wrote about International Women’s Day which has grown from a slightly clunky political occasion into commemoration that is now meaningful, but this week I have been thinking about a much more long-standing and solemn occasion that we will be commemorating in Great Britain this year – the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War.

This conflict marked the turning point in mechanised warfare and claimed over 16 million lives around the world and while it is an unusual departure for Britain to celebrate the beginning rather than the end of wars, the events that are planned will give all of us an opportunity to remember the sacrifices, challenges and local efforts that marked this period.

It is now almost unthinkable that the lives of so many young men (and some women) could be squandered in such numbers and that so little help was available after the war for veterans and those suffering from physical and mental injuries and having just re-read Vera Brittain’s wonderful book Testament of Youth, I was reminded that the memories of the lives that were lost and the way of living that died forever can so easily be forgotten. It is a good thing, therefore, that the whole country is getting behind this sober anniversary so that the memories – and the lessons – are not lost.

Nationally, over £50 million is being spent on the centenary with £15m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, a further £6m set aside for community events that promote education among young people and more than £5m for battlefield tours available to schools. There are still grants available for local groups who want to organise their own event and the www.hlf.org.uk website has more details on how to apply.

My musings on the Great War were partly prompted by seeing an old WWI airfield strip as I visited Larkhill and Durrington to see some of the sites proposed for the housing required for relocation of thousands of soldiers and their families to the Salisbury Plain area in the next few years.

While most local people welcome the moves, not least because they provide a big injection of investment and spending into the local economy, there are concerns about the location of development and the impact on schools, roads and hospitals, and it was useful to see the sites, and observe that some of the “facts” about the impact of possible housing on Stonehenge have clearly been collected by people who have been to see the sites, and to make my thoughts known to the MoD.