Remembrance Sunday is a day for me of quiet reflection thinking not so much of those who have fallen in war, but of the many friends of mine whose fathers had not returned from the second world war.

I have on only a few occasions attended reunions on this day, usually preferring to spend it alone.

This year however I decided to attend the Southampton Cenotaph ceremony for the first time and was impressed by the performance of the Southampton Albion band and would like to extend my thanks to them.

I was standing behind the area the band parked itself so my view of much of the ceremony was limited but saw to my right a contingent of the ATC and noticed the girls were wearing skirts.

It was quite chilly and as time wore on I noticed expressions of pain mixed with determination on their faces and I am proud to have witnessed their contribution to the event.

I don’t think we have too much to worry about the future of our country with youngsters like these around, but would like to suggest to the commanders of the ATC that as November usually falls on the cold end of the year that the girls wear trousers.

They did not have the option of moving about to keep warm as the rest of us did.

Alan Kebbell, Southampton