A peaceful place, perfect for calm reflection

Standing on Portsdown Hill gives one a stunning panoramic view across Portsmouth and over The Solent. It is justifiably a place many love to go and just soak in the renowned vista.

it can be a place of calm reflection, away from the hustle and bustle of the city below.

And so it is an ideal place for the Falklands Memorial Plantation.

Forty years on from that shattering conflict, each one of its 258 original trees is a symbol freighted with meaning – a tree for every life lost – a powerful reminder of the 1982 war.

Each one of those trees represents the life a British serviceman of Falkland Islander who died in the conflict.

Over the course of those 74 days 255 British military personnel and three islanders. And while they were the enemy, it is important to remember that 649 Argentine soldiers also died.

At yesterday’s rededication at the plantation, poppy seeds were sown.

Chris Purcell, a survivor of HMS Sheffield, was the first to sow the seeds, and he got it right when he said: ‘I think it’s important to remember.

‘This is why we’re telling our stories, so the younger generation can learn about how we liberated the islands.’

Time erodes memory – we have lost all of our First World War veterans, and there are few left now from the Second World War.

But it is more important than ever that we don’t lose sight of what these brave men and women fought for.

This quiet plantation is the perfect place for a peaceful moment of contemplation – to remind ourselves why so many lives were lost fighting over the Falkland Island, and why so many continue to be lost in conflicts all over the globe.

With images of the horrific war in Ukraine filling our screens daily, we need to be reminded of what these brave souls are fighting for.