NORMANDY D DAY INVASION 65TH ANNIVERSARY

President Barack Obama & Prince Charles at the D Day Ceremony


Normandy D Day Invasion 65th Anniversary events in Portsmouth and Normandy, France

Today marks the first day of my new life after nearly 20 years public service as a Councillor in Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire.

This morning I went to Elstow Abbey Church, read the Epistle and the Gospel and listened to the beautiful singing of the Amity Singers from Jersey. They are part of the Bedford-Jersey Arts Festival, celebrating a 60 year link between Bedford and Jersey children who were evacuated to Bedford during the Second World War.

Yesterday marked the 65th Anniversary of the Normandy D Day Invasion by the British, American and Canadian fleets, which led to the Allies winning and ending the Second World War in 1945. Ceremonies were attended by the Heads of State of France, USA and Canada, plus Prince Charles and Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister. The Queen should have been invited but was not due to errors by both the French and British Governments, and Prince Charles was only invited at the last minute after protests.

Britain was Germany's chief opponent at the beginning of the War, and thousands of Britons died during the Normandy Invasion to save France from the Nazis. This was a gross discourtesy and yet another example of the incompetence of Gordon Brown and his tired Labour Government. It 's time for a General Election and change!

President Sarkozy. the French President is only interested in hitching his waning star to the glamorous President Obama, the most poopular world leader, which is perhaps unsurprising as he hopes that some of the stardust will rub off on him.

My late father was decorated by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre for his role in the 1944 Normandy Invasion. He was a navigator in HMS Frobisher, the leading frigate in the British fleet, one of the first ships to arrive in Normandy.

The photographs above are a sample of the various events taking place in Portsmouth, where I grew up as the child of a naval family, and Normandy, including the beach at Arromanches. All the remaining veterans are in their 80's and 90's and very frail.

BONJOUR MES AMIS

Hi folks - I have just returned from the family holiday in Brittany I told you about in my Cambridge Blog on 20 July. Maybe the anonymous correspondent who asked why my Blogs had stopped did not read it?

Martin, my US brother wanted to celebrate his 40th Wedding Anniversary with a family reunion in Brittany. So 34 of us, including 15 children rented 8 Gites in a child friendly site called La Villeneuve,near Riec sur Belon, oyster capital of France. I travelled on Brittany Ferries with my daughter and 2 small grandchildren, Jessica, 5 and Oliver, 3, staying 2 nights in Cherbourg and 3 nights in Granville, a Normandy seaside resort on our way home. The Brittany Ferry was efficient and we landed early in Portsmouth. We even beat the M25 rush hour and reached Bedford in under 3 hours.

French public toilets have not yet achieved 21st Century standards so we had one gruesome experience with a 'hole in the ground' on a motorway site. However they do have great food and wine and are tolerant of small children. Also they require drivers to reduce their maxium speed by 20 km in wet weather on motorways - a rule the British could do well to copy.

Brittany is beautiful and we visited historic Pont Aven and Quimper and lots of beaches to build sandcastles and collect shells, while my brother organised sporting activities. The weather was mixed but we had lots of barbecues and family sports.
In Normandy we visited the superb Mont St. Michel while the tide was out and the children loved their Alligator Park visit and harbour boat trip in Cherbourg.

Now it's back to work with meetings today in Cambridge and Bedford and an escorted visit on Friday to London Luton Airport with some fellow councillors.