ON Sunday a ceremony at the Cenotaph in the Parade will mark the 90th anniversary of the Armistice, which, on 11 November 1918, brought the horrific slaughter of the First World War to an end.

No one at that ceremony will have personal memories of the four years of carnage which, with sad but unsuspected irony, was for all too short a time described as the ‘war to end all wars’. This, however, does not mean that remembrance is a fruitless or meaningless exercise.

As we are all too aware at a time when conflict still rages in Afghanistan and the Congo, the sacrifices made on the Western Front, on the high seas, in the Gallipoli campaign and in what was called Mesopotamia before it earned another name redolent of death, Iraq, did not bring lasting peace. That said, the courage of those who fought in the trenches, in primitive aircraft and in the allied navies richly deserves to be marked even if only a tiny handful of the 1914–18 combatants remain alive.

There are, moreover, other compelling reasons why remembrance still deserves to be dignified by one of the most solemn occasions that the Island sees. First and foremost among these is that self-sacrifice in the interests of the wider community is still a fact of life. British servicemen and women, among them Jersey residents, are currently in harm’s way in far-off theatres of war where they are making valiant efforts to restore order in the face of terror and fanaticism. They deserve our thoughts and our thanks.

There is, meanwhile, a further dimension of the season of remembrance that must not be ignored. The annual Poppy Appeal seeks to match the symbolic significance of Remembrance Sunday with the practical business of raising money – an effort which is always handsomely rewarded in this Island.

That money, of course, is no longer directed to help those afflicted by the Great War and its aftermath. But this does not mean that there is any shortage of causes to support as a result of other actions great and small. We must give generously to honour those who serve and have served in our defence.