You have to register to vote by tomorrow, 20 April. If you haven’t already registered, please do! Here’s the online link: Register to vote – GOV.UK

Yesterday I attended a Wartime Tea Concert in my constituency. The hall was decorated in bunting, the orchestra played Dam Busters, the screens behind the orchestra showed pictures of the Normandy landings and ration queues.

There must have been at least twenty tables set for tea and covered with Union Jacks. At each table was a group of elderly people from either a local care home or from a lunch club. Their generation remembers the war and the sacrifices made.

I was moved to tears as I looked about the room. Our generation has not known such universal sacrifice and deprivation. Many of us do not know the true value of freedom. The vote is taken for granted. And in only a few years, that link with previous generations who can tell us first-hand about the great wars will be lost. We will only have recorded memories to rely on.

How important it is to get young people out to vote! To get everyone to understand that our vote was fought for to the death. And to value and honour the sacrifices previous generations have made to make the UK what it is today.

I grew up on military bases as my father served in the US Marines. Military life was normal life in my childhood. Living a civilian life, when my father retired, was an unusual experience. Many families and service women and men up and down this country continue to sacrifice for our freedom. May we honour them also with exercising our right to vote.

Yesterday at the concert a soprano dressed in WRNS uniform led us all in It’s A Long Way to Tipperary and Keep the Home Fires Burning. We finished with Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem and the National Anthem. The memories flooded back, helped with the picture quiz of war-time maternity wards and children evacuees.

May we not forget. And as we vote, may we honour the memories of those who sacrificed much for our freedom.

* Kirsten Johnson was the PPC for Oxford East in the 2017 General Election. She is a pianist and composer at www.kirstenjohnsonpiano.com.