AS PEOPLE across the country came together to remember the beginning of Britain’s involvement in the First World War and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice it’s also important to remember the lessons we learned from the war.

Whilst the war was undoubtedly a terrible, global, tragedy some good did come from it.

The importance of women during the war led to women over the age of 30 getting the vote in 1918 and those over 21, in 1928.

However, this was inevitable and I don’t think anyone would agree that the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians were worth it to fast track the issue through government.

People from all over the world suffered the long term effects that the war brought, for many their family homes were reduced to rubble, for others the long term mental impacts of warfare never left them.

The real tragedy is that it took so much death and destruction from one war and then a second war to bring peace to Europe.

Thousands of people across the region were killed during the First World War and many times more were left with the scars, both mentally and physically, that the fighting caused.

We should not only remember those who fell as a direct consequence of fighting on mainland Europe but for those who came back to the country but never truly came back as themselves.

Memorials and commemorations like the one held in Thornbury are vital in helping us remember not only the lives that were lost as a consequence of war, but also the mistakes that led us to that point in the first place so that, hopefully, they are never repeated.