SIR – Almost every Wednesday in Parliamentary Question Time, we hear the party leaders pay tribute to even more loss of life in Afghanistan, before they then attack each other across the floor.

I watched the very moving Remembrance service from the Royal Albert Hall and thought of all the lives lost in the service of our country, those in the past and those of today.

In Clayton, in the park, there was a large turnout of young and old in an act of Remembrance.

One little girl, in a red coat, wandered on to the grass by the cenotaph as the tributes were laid, and she would not have appreciated the significance of the occasion, as we did.

As we looked at the many names on the cenotaph we appreciated that these were not just names as they had given their all for us, they had left families who mourned their loss and we should never forget what they gave us and what our armed services continue to give today.

We live in troubled times, with an uncertain future, and while we reflect on all we have been given, we surely must do what we can for each other as a tribute to those who gave everything.

Dennis Delaney, The Avenue, Clayton