Getting ready for battle ......

.... Commemorations at Edinburgh Castle for the Drumhead ceremony.

I was taking our daughter to Waverley for her 9am train south when I saw these preparations in Chambers Street. Representatives from all 32 local authority areas had been invited and I assume these were to lead them in.

Later I read that one of the events to be marked was the Quintnshill rail disaster near Gretna where many soldiers - a large proportion from Leith - were killed or injured. My wife's grandfather on the Baxter side was injured and ended up with one leg shorter than the other; one of his brothers lost a hand and had a hook thereafter; and another lost most of his hearing. Commemorations often focus on those who have their lives to keep us safe but many more suffered physically or mentally for the rest of their lives.

I last saw a drumhead ceremony in Sydney on Anzac Day: it was very moving and the event overall - like today - involved the whole community of all ages with many younger men dressed smartly in suits wearing their relatives' medals. And many sporting a sprig of rosemary to mark the battles at Gallipoli where the herb grew wild.