Rain lashed against the windows of her childhood home in Glasgow as dark clouds gathered, drowning out the sunlight.

Sitting at a table, Moira Gulbransen, musical director of the Carillon Singers, recalled listening to the steady patter of raindrops until a familiar voice broke through the rhythmic splutter, singing as it drew closer to the door.

“I remember clambering from my chair, running to the door with giddy excitement. The war was over, and my father had returned home,” she said, taking her place in front of the 20-woman ensemble.

“As we gather here at Rynpark on the eleventh day of the eleventh month just before 11:00, let us not forget those who bravely walked ahead affording us the opportunity to be free.”

Paying tribute to sailors, soldiers and airmen such as her father who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II, Moira invited residents of the retirement village to join in as the social choir group performed timeless wartime favourites.

Welcoming residents and friends, Ledine Alberts, the facility’s occupational therapist assistant, said the morning’s remembrance was both a reflection on the world’s shared hardships and a tribute to those who had served.

Reading In Flanders Fields, the 1915 poem by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae describing the battle-scarred landscapes where poppies grew between rows of soldiers’ graves, Keith Ablett reminded attendees that even amid devastation hope endured.

“As these joyful flowers bloomed in fields bruised by bombs and battle, we owe it to those who gave their lives by living with gentle bravery,” he said.

The Carillon ladies then struck up their voices, singing with heartfelt emotion and evoking memories of an era when communities were separated by war but united in prayer, their harmonies ringing out like the chiming bells of victory.

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