Every week one of the pleasures of my job is to grab a cup of strong coffee and take half an hour to peruse the local papers to see what is happening across the Devizes Constituency.

I thoroughly enjoy the breadth of news and local stories reported on in the Gazette and Herald (Devizes and Marlborough editions), the Salisbury Journal and the Andover Advertiser and marvel at the enthusiasm of both reporters and readers alike in following local matters, covering important events and generally providing some of the glue that sticks our communities together. It’s a calming moment in the often frenzied world of Westminster.

There was another one last week when I went to see the remarkable work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the United Kingdom. I was familiar with the incredible work of the organisation in marking the graves of those who have fallen around the world but until last week I was unaware that the Commission also maintains 170,000 war graves in the United Kingdom for those who served with Commonwealth (including British) forces.

These are the men and women who died at home or in military hospitals, of wounds, sickness and disease or in training accidents and air raids, and our Constituency, given the troop concentrations during both wars, has some of the biggest formal cemeteries as well as many scattered graves, tucked into the corners of quiet churchyards.

I saw examples of both when I visited Durrington cemetery and St Michael’s churchyard in Figheldean last week and heard about the work of the Commission in mapping, cleaning, inspecting and maintaining all known sites.

I was particularly fascinated to hear of the horticultural thinking and planning that goes into the planting around the graves with the aim being to create the feel of an English garden that surrounds but does not dominate the grave sites and it is a fitting and particularly British way to remember those who gave so much.

I will find another moment of calm this Saturday when I walk the Moonwalk in London during the night to raise money for breast cancer research along with 17,000 other women, including MPs from all parties where, despite the hubbub (not to mention the decorated bras) is possible to find peace and quiet on the dark streets and think about those, including my grandmother, who died from the disease.