All this current talk of this being a year of ‘Homecoming’.

Why don’t we celebrate those hardy souls who stayed at home, through thick and thin, to raise their families?

When we’re told about our globe trotting ancestors who trudged their way across the Americas or traipsed through the Antipodean Outback we seem to forget the plight of those who were left behind.

 Without as much as a pair of shoes on their feet they endured hardships aplenty. Trying to eke out a living on the poorest ground in Camuscross and being forced to cut peats where it didn’t spoil the landlord’s view.

These people were the real heroes.