… on Sunday (why a day later than the rest of the country, incidentally?) because it was the Bishop’s final Sunday eucharist. So I was in the garden rather than the Guildhall Square when a solitary Spitfire flew past.

It would be nice to claim to have recognised the unmistakeable sound of a Merlin engine before seeing the plane, except it didn’t sound like a Merlin. So was it a Griffon-powered Spit? Anoraks, please tell me.

During my childhood in Christchurch immediately after the war we didn’t need an armed forces day. At school everyone’s parents (and all the masters) had been in the forces. There were gun-positions disguised as bungalows at Friars Cliff, anti-invasion beach obstacles stretching from Mudeford to Hurst Point; Hengistbury Head was closed while mines were cleared, and German PoWs did roadworks. We lived in a war-surplus motor torpedo-boat, and other houseboats on the Avon included MGBs, landing-craft and an air-sea-rescue launch.

Later on, when the Cold War started in earnest, uniforms were commonplace. No-one needed to be told what the stress was like for those serving in Malaya, Kenya, the Canal Zone, Cyprus and Aden because so many people had been there and done that. And that meant there was empathy between soldiers and civilians.

How hard it must be for today’s young soldiers either preparing for or returning from fighting in Afghanistan. This is a war the general public simply doesn’t understand. It’s not just the fact that it’s unwinnable; it’s the sheer pointlessness of the deaths and dreadful injuries being suffered in a conflict that can only eventually be resolved in round-table talks.

The ones I feel most sorry for are those on their second or third tour in Helmand. The nagging fear that sooner or later their luck will run out must be truly awful.

PS. On Monday July 19 there will be a public meeting for local members of Salisbury District Hospital Foundation Trust (including those who haven’t yet joined but want to do so) and their elected Governors (including yours truly). There’s plenty to discuss, especially in the current financial climate. The meeting will be at the Methodist Church Hall in St Edmund Church Street from 6-7.30pm. Please try to attend.