Each year fellow Swindon MP Robert Buckland and I have the honour of laying wreaths at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Swindon. I have seen first-hand the number of people coming to pay their respects growing, and I am pleased that we can once again do so in person – after the Covid-19 pandemic prevented us last year.

Swindon has always worn its support of all branches of the Armed Forces with immense pride. Remembrance Day honours those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. It also recognises current serving members of our armed forces, along with our veterans, to whom we also owe an enormous debt of gratitude.

Due to its railway connections, Swindon played a pivotal role in the First World War’s mobilisation. It hosted thousands of soldiers, as the town received a huge influx of troops from across the country as soon as the war was declared. Many of them were billeted in local homes – up to five or six to a household – and several schools were requisitioned. Sanford Street was converted into a hospital and Clarence Street was used as a barracks, while a large camp was established at Chiseldon.

Swindon was central to the war effort because of its importance as a railway hub. Its Old Town station served the south of England and therefore the military towns in the south of the county. A feature of these very early days of the war were the long columns of troops, which could often be seen marching across town, from one station to another. A measure of the scale and swiftness of the mobilisation is that, during just three days in August (the first month of the war), 45 trains left Swindon Station filled with troops.

Within four days of the declaration of war in 1914, a “Young Citizens' League” was formed for would-be soldiers up to the age of 24, followed, three days later, by the setting-up of the Swindon Volunteer (Temporary) Force for men up to the age of 30. Within a month, 200 had enrolled, with another 160 signing on for either the regular army, the territorials or the Yeomanry. By October 1914, 2,634 Swindon men were in these various branches of the forces ¬ around 2,000 of them having signed up since the outbreak of war. This was around half of those who would eventually serve. A total of 5,383 men from Swindon fought in the war – and 920 of them were sadly killed.

On Friday July 1, 2016, then-Prime Minister David Cameron commemorated the 100th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme by laying a wreath at the Thiepval Somme Memorial, located at the heart of the battlefield that lies midway between Calais and Paris. More than 100 of Swindon's finest – 95 per cent of whom were employees of the GWR Works – are inscribed on that memorial. And they are the ones who were never found.

On Sunday, I look forward to attending the Remembrance Day Parade and Sunday service, remembering all the armed forces personnel from Swindon who have served, those who continue to serve and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and way of life.