A reminder to try and live life to the fullest

IT has been a sobering week or so.

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On the 80th anniversary of VE Day, I was lucky enough to be invited to a bowling club in Plymouth where one of the city's last surviving veterans of World War Two was to unveil a wall-mounted Tommy.

I had met him before, as Ivor, now 99, had only in the dusk of his life received a Liberators medal, from the Netherlands, for his service.

This time, he may have seemed weaker in body, but remained strong in spirit, and while cameras clicked, he said that he had never had so many photos taken of him before.

When I got a chance to have a quiet chat with him away from the camera clicks and appreciative applause, he reflected that VE Day wasn't a celebration for him, as he was the only one left of the seven who flew in a Lancaster bomber in the final days of WW2 - but his six 'best mates' had all died.