OVER the last few days I attended two charity occasions for completely different reasons.

Locally, in my guise as president of the Hampshire Lord Taverners, I was at Dock Gate 4 with about 150 people enjoying a Burns' Night supper.

A great evening was had by all and Billy Connolly actually turned up but, most importantly, thousands of pounds were raised to help provide more buses for disabled children.

Earlier in the week, I took my Members of Parliament football team to Upton Park, where a special game was held against a team from the Holocaust Educational Trust, represented by a group of men and even one lady who were all related to people who died 60 years ago at Auschwitz.

Alvin Martin, the West Ham legend, was brought in to manage the opposition. It produced a nine-goal game, which on this occasion I didn't mind losing by the odd one.

The crowd was dominated by hundreds of schoolchildren who made it sound like a final at Wembley, but most significantly in the reception afterwards they, along with us, were able to be reminded of the atrocities that took place all those years ago.

Those atrocities are something that should never be repeated, and definitely not forgotten.