Copyright Katherine Brookes ©Katherine Brookes 2020

Forgotten Heroes was inspired by Street of London by Ralph McTell.  I had contacted him as I wanted to record a version of Streets of London to try to raise money for AgeUK.  My father-in-law had recently died, as had an elderly lady who had been a life long friend.  I was very conscious that I hadn’t always been able to spend the time with them that I had wished when they were alive.  Both had lived amazing, full lives and had so many stories to tell.  They didn’t feel any different in their 80s and 90s respectively than when they were in their twenties and thirties.  Mentally they would always be young and vibrant.  Age just made them less mobile, but the desire to do and be more was always there.

I consider the older generation very much the forgotten heroes.  It is over 10 years since they passed, but I think of them every day.  They were the generation who had lived through the 2nd World War, and had helped secure our freedom and yet younger generations were complaining about what they didn’t have – the latest phone, the 50 inch TV, the latest game console.  That generation didn’t complain.  They were doers, and they just got on with it.

Our elderly have so much to offer if we would only sit down and listen to them.  If only we would take the time.  That is why the work AgeUK do with the elderly is so important.

All proceeds from the sale of this song will go to AgeUK.