It was a great privilege last Thursday to attend the Laying up of Colours service and ceremony in St Margaret’s Westminster for the Normandy Veterans Association.

I then invited the Wiltshire contingent over to Parliament. “Would you prefer a sandwich in the canteen or a pint on the Terrace?” I enquired. Stupid question really. The 90-year old veterans were unanimous in their terrace-bound verdict! What an honour it was to be able to entertain these cheerful old soldiers, some of whom were amongst the first up the beaches on D-Day; to remember their fallen comrades and others who are no longer with us, and also to have a very jolly drink together.

Their present-day successors are volunteering in large numbers for an almost equally hazardous operation – trying to stem the spread of ebola in West Africa. These are people who care more about doing what is right in the world, and to help the rest of humanity, no matter what the risk to themselves may be. And they, like the Normandy veterans, do it without hesitation and without seeking any kind of thanks or recognition. They just cheerfully go about their business, ignoring the risks they may encounter.

Those are great heroes. But so are the decent folk who volunteer in our society in perhaps less hazardous, but equally altruistic, ways. The annual Mayoral Service in Royal Wootton Bassett on Sunday afternoon this year especially celebrated volunteers – those who work in charities, organisations, committees, local government, Guides and Scouts, amateur dramatics, the church. These people are truly the lifeblood of a community like Royal Wootton Bassett.

So too are those who lend a hand to others without any kind of request or thanks. The tens of thousands of voluntary carers across our land, those who just help an old lady across the road, or give a hand home with her shopping.

(My clergyman father used to tell of the lady to whom he gave a lift in pouring rain one day. “Thank you so much” she said. “Don’t mention it”, said my father. “Oh no, I promise I won’t tell a soul,” said she, fearing some kind of ministerial scandal!)

To the soldiers, sailors and airmen and women from the past and from nowadays; to those who volunteer in our communities and the millions of us who just do our little daily bit, I would repeat the modestly expressed motto of Royal Wootton Bassett: “We honour those who serve.”