“Today is not only a day to remember, it’s a moment to pause and reflect, to look back on the past, to honour those who served, and to recommit ourselves to building a future rooted in peace, dignity, and mutual respect,” said retired sergeant Claudine Martin, opening yesterday’s (9 November) Remembrance Sunday service in Brixton’s Windrush Square.
“Let us be united and draw strength from the spirit of togetherness that has always defined this borough and this country.”
Lambeth mayor Adrian Garden took a moment of silence to remember those who have fallen while serving in the armed forces.
“Let us also reflect upon the sacrifices made by those whom we hold dear, such as family members who serve alongside our military men and women. Let us stand together in solidarity and remembrance of those who have laid down their lives for others. May they rest in peace,” he said.
Ras D. Levi Made Selassie sent a message of sympathy and support “to our people in Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba after this devastating storm, Melissa. Our heart and our minds are with them”.
He recalled the teaching of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie that: “the duty of a soldier is also to maintain peace, order, to defend his country and its people, to defend his fellow men and women and to represent their community.”
Umar Mahmood said Remembrance Day “is not only about looking back. It is about carrying forward the lessons of sacrifice, courage, and unity.
“It is about ensuring that these stories of those who came before us, like my grandfather, a war veteran and a prisoner of war, continue to inspire future generations.”
He said that during the World Wars, more than two and a half million soldiers, men and women, from the British Indian Army served with distinction.
“Among them were over 400,000 Muslims who fought bravely on the frontlines. Their contributions, often forgotten, were vital to the Allied victory and to the peace we enjoy today.”
He added: “We must teach our children not just to remember the fallen, but to understand why they fell, to ensure that those horrors that they faced are not repeated.”
Rabbi Nathan Godleman of the South London Liberal Synagogue in Streatham recalled the words of his predecessor Rabbi John Rayner: “It is not enough to pray for peace. We have to work for it, to challenge those who foster conflict and refute their propaganda, to ascertain and make known the truth, both when it confirms and when it runs counter to conventional thinking.”
The Reverend Michael King said that, with the British West India Regiments Heritage Trust, he had visited war graves from the First World War. Among them was the grave of Douglas Manley, the brother of Norman Manley, the first and only Premier of Jamaica.
“Many don’t know the contributions within the Commonwealth in the First World War, three and a half million personnel given to the First World War. Five million to the second. The contribution to our freedom and this great country of ours,” said Revd King.
“I’ve been British all my life, because I was born and brought up in British Guiana,” said Vidur Dindayal, representing the Hindu religion. “I came here before the country became independent, so I was British here as well.”
He said he was lucky to come to live in Brixton many, many years ago. “I found it was so ideal for me, because I come from a country which is multi-racial. And I learnt how very rich and multi-racial it is when I came abroad.
Brigadier Thammy Evans, who was born in Lambeth and whose mother came from Malaya, read the exhortation and led the service n remembrance …
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”
Cadets Amasse and Ardizzone spoke of the many who have died for us to be living the lives we are today.
Retired colonel Andy Allen was the most senior British-born Black army officer of his time. “Anything is possible,” he said.
“I stand here before you as an ex-army cadet, like the fusilier cadet that was just stood on this platform. I was a cadet in the late 70s, and I decided to serve Queen and country.
“Thirty years later, I left the British Army after going to Sandhurst. Col Allen was one of the first Black officer cadets to go to Sandhurst, the army’s officer training academy.
“I thank those that served in the First and Second World Wars. I stood on their shoulders,” he said. “I look at the officer cadets, I look at the army cadets and say: ‘Anything is possible’.”
Relatives and representatives of many local organisations laid wreaths on the African Caribbean war memorial – which, several speakers recalled, is the result of the hard work and determination of Jak Beula of the Nubian Jak Community Trust.
Deputy Lieutenant Christopher Wellbeloved – the King’s representative 
Cadet Ardizzione 
Cadet Amsse 
Lambeth Green Party representatives Sonia Winifred and Becca Thackray 
Grandchildren of the late Sam King, co-founder of the Windrush Foundation and first Black Mayor of Southwark 
Deaconess Joanna Olabanji and Dativa Moshi of Faiths Together in Lambeth 
Lambeth Conservative party’s Neil Salt 
Windrush ward councillors Scarlett O’Hara and Donatus Anyanwu 
A queue formed to greet 99-year-old veteran Gilbert Clarke 
Ros Griffiths, chair of the Friends of Windrush Square, with Dawn Hill CBE, former chair of trustees of the Black Cultural Archives
In place of the usual bugler, the Last Post – played at British military funerals and Remembrance services – was performed on a steel pan.
It is appalling that Jak Beula and The Nubian Jak Community Trust have been excluded from the event that they were largely responsible for creating, at the monument that they actually created. The government and Lambeth Council officials responsible, and those locally who appear much of their income from Lambeth Council grants, who were collectively responsible for this shocking decision should hang their heads in shame.
So far as the article is concerned, it is good to see that Andrew Allen has changed little from when he was at school locally 50 years ago.