Kate Osborne MP: Two minutes' silence a small gesture yet a deeply powerful one
This past week I have spent time across the constituency and in Parliament remembering and honouring those who fell in the First and Second World Wars, but also thinking about all who have served, and continue to serve, in conflicts across the world.
From the event at Saltwell Park to laying a cross in Westminster's remembrance garden and of course this Sunday at 11am we will all pause for two minutes’ silence – a small gesture, yet a deeply powerful one.
It is a moment to reflect, to remember, and to carry forward the lessons of the past as well as honour sacrifice and service.
Across the country, at war memorials, in schools, in churches, and in our streets, we will gather, lay wreaths, and remind ourselves that freedom is never free.
We all feel the weight of remembrance, the stories passed from parent to child: the young men who left home never to return; the mothers and fathers left behind; the communities forever changed by loss.
Many families here still carry that silence – the empty seat at the dinner table, the unspoken grief. But we also carry pride: pride in those who stood, who fought, and who served.
My family pay tribute to my great uncle Frederick who was one of the first British soldiers to go in and liberate the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp on April 15, 1945, and my youngest son Freddie is named after him.
As your Member of Parliament, I honour all those from the constituency who served and remember stories that have been shared with me, like those of Private JJ Brown who died at just 21-years-old in First World War and Murial Rita Calow who died at just 18 in Second World War. Both are buried in the Jarrow and Gateshead East constituency.
It is not a day for politics, but for humility. Yet our public life should always be guided by the same values that Remembrance embodies: duty, solidarity, and compassion.
We owe our veterans more than words. We owe them a society that honours their service through care – by supporting them in health, housing, employment, and dignity when they return home.
It is a privilege to stand beside veterans and their families, to hear their stories, and to listen.
Each time, I am reminded of what binds us together: the memory of sacrifice and our shared responsibility to the future.
We must also remember those who survived – those who came home with wounds, both seen and unseen. Many veterans live with invisible scars: post-traumatic stress, physical injury, or mental health struggles. Remembrance is for them, too.
But we must not just remember them, we need to look after them and build services worthy of their service and sacrifice – proper healthcare, timely mental health support, and a welfare system that allows every veteran to live with dignity and security.
It also matters how we pass these lessons on to younger generations. I am incredibly proud of the work our local schools do, bringing pupils to memorials, holding assemblies, inviting veterans to speak, and ensuring remembrance is not just something learned in a classroom, but something lived and understood.
It was a privilege to join our community at Saltwell Park in Gateshead for this year’s Field of Remembrance, and to lay a cross in tribute to those who gave their lives in service to our country.
Gateshead is home to the only Field of Remembrance in the North of England – a truly special and deeply meaningful tribute to all who served and sacrificed. Each year, this space gives us the opportunity to come together as a community – to remember loved ones, to reflect on the cost of conflict, and to honour those who have given so much for our freedom.
At this time of year, I also think of all those who make our acts of remembrance possible – from the poppy sellers on our high streets, to the volunteers, those creating beautiful poppy displays and bugle players who ensure every service is dignified and heartfelt. It’s a time when we come together as one community – united in gratitude and respect.
I want to thank all of the organisations working tirelessly to support service personnel and their families – from mental health and housing support to employment and community outreach.
Our country must show up for our heroes when it counts, in real and meaningful ways. We must be there for them now, just as they were there for us then. We owe them nothing less.
This Sunday, as we stand in silence and bow our heads, let us make a promise – that we will remember them not only in words, but in deeds. That we will build a fairer, kinder, more compassionate society worthy of their sacrifice.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning – we will remember them.